Montreal restaurant allowing customers in need to walk in and pick up a meal for free during Ramadan

Muslims from around the world fast from dawn to sunset for 30 days during Ramadan, abstaining from eating or drinking and yes, including water.

One local restaurant in Montreal’s West Island in Dollard-des-Ormeaux, Khanjee is taking it a step further and giving guests the opportunity to pay their meal forward.

They can choose from three pre-set boxes, pay for that meal and a flyer goes up on the wall at the front of the restaurant. Then anyone from any background can walk into the restaurant and take a flyer off the wall and request a meal at no cost.

“If there’s anyone who’s having any problems or is a bit shy, they can reach out to us on social media. Just messages. We’ll even have their boxes prepared for. And they can just come in, grab the boxes. They don’t even have to use the coupons,” said Yasir Zaidi, co-owner of Khanjee restaurant.

“Since we had an overwhelming response earlier where we had almost 40 to 50 meals paid out for, we figured we’ll let it open out to anyone, everyone that can come in. The only aspect is that since we make meals fresh every day, we only encourage people who really want to avail this opportunity to come around six to seven,” explained Zaidi.

“So they get fresh meals. We start cooking around four or five o’clock. Ramadan, Iftar buffet opens around seven. So essentially anyone can pop in around six, just grab one of these coupons off the door and just get the fresh meal. No question asked.”

Zaidi adds, “We see not just the restaurant flourishing with our buffet and people trying our food for the first time, but also this drive when people come in and people who cannot afford to have a decent meal at a restaurant to also try and give us comments. We have some people coming on a regular basis and availing themselves of this opportunity.”

The restaurant reflects Pakistani heritage and culture and is adorned with artwork directly from the country.

“This is truck art. It’s a staple for that part of the world. It’s very prevalent in Pakistan where people are encouraging doing hand paint art. And if you can see the décor around from the chairs to the walls, it’s all hand-painted.”

But the heart and soul of Khanjee is the cuisine from Northern Pakistan.

“We have different types of Karhai’s, which is a staple to the northern part of Pakistan. And this is something we figured that was not available at a lot of restaurants across the city. So it’s more to do with the Northern cuisine of Pakistan,” said Zaidi.

“It’s not just for them for us as well, because we want to be in the spirit of giving and we want to avail the last ten days of Ramadan. And it’s a blessed month for us. So we want to have the blessings of serving the community.”