While many restaurants across Capitol Hill are trying to sort out how they are going to survive the COVID-19 restrictions, 15th Ave E’s small but mighty Spice Waala is setting out on a mission to keep its neighborhood fed through the crisis — whether you can pay or not.

Every Monday and Tuesday starting tonight, March 30th, Spice Waala will be providing 50 free meals a day from 5 PM to 7 PM:

We will be serving 50 meals per day from 5pm-7pm. The meals will be available for any one to pick-up – no questions asked. Please spread the word about the program and let any one you know who may benefit from this. Volunteers will be present and we will limit it to 1 meal per person to maximize our reach. We are accepting donations for this program via Venmo (@uttammukh) and PayPal ([email protected]) – we need approximately $200 per week to keep this program going so please please please consider donating anything you have. Any leftover funds will be distributed to a non-profit.

“When COVID-19 started to impact #Seattle, we at Spice Waala said the first priority was to protect the health & safety of our employees and our customers. We changed our protocols to ensure a high standard of hygiene every day,” restaurant owners Dr. Aakanksha Sinha and Uttam Mukherjee write. “Our second step was to ensure that our employees did not feel the impact of this and hence we committed to our employees that their hours would not be cut so that they are not impacted.”

CHS reported last April on Spice Waala’s birth as a mobile food vendor at markets in Fremont and South Lake Union and its selection of 15th Ave E as its new brick and mortar home.

A year later, business has changed. But, inspired by the World Central Kitchen and chef José Andrés, the community mission of the small, walk-up focused restaurant now has an opportunity to grow. Monday, the restaurant said it had enough donations to make its Spice Waala Bhojan meal campaign last two months if needed.

With Spice Waala hosting its free meals on Mondays and Tuesdays, there is also room for others to pitch in during the rest of the week. In the Central District, CHS reported on the Feed The People effort’s community kitchen.

You can donate to help and also give a boost by helping spread the word about the meals during your COVID-19-restricted walks or by letting friends know on Facebook. “Please – spread the word and let’s try to help those who are food insecure,” Spice Walla writes.

And if you are hungry, you should definitely stop in. If you can pay, help out. If not, there’s a meal waiting for you.

Spice Waala’s free 50 meals are available on Mondays and Tuesdays from 5 to 7 PM. You can find the restaurant at 340 15th Ave E.

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