Malay family goes on Facebook in search of kind Chinese stranger who quietly paid for their meal at Al-Azhar

Friday the 13^th didn’t turn out to be such an unlucky day for a family last week, when a kind stranger apparently paid for their entire meal at popular Bukit Timah eating spot, Al-Azhar. 

Last Friday night (March 13), Facebook user Nannie Asniar recounted how she and her daughters dropped by the restaurant for dinner. Being “famished”, the mother had ordered some food first while her husband remained occupied looking for a parking spot. That was when Nannie first noticed that someone was paying attention to her children. 

“While eating, I saw a Chinese lady seating alone next to our table smiling was while looking at the girls eat, it was a normal sight for me thus I didn’t think of anything [suspicious],” she wrote. 

When the fellow lady finished her meal and got up, and Nannie noticed that the stranger had tried to peek at their table number, which didn’t feel too odd. But it was when her husband arrived at the table that they realised that their meal — a $15.90 dinner consisting of prata, briyani and teh tarik — had already been paid for. 

“Though I’m not sure who [did it] I have a strong feeling it was that Chinese lady who did that,” Nannie deduced.

$15.90 may not be considered that big of a deal to foot the bill for, but it’s the gesture that moved Nannie, who shared the experience on Facebook in a bid to reach out to the kind stranger. Now, her family plans to pay it forward to another family. 

“She definitely brought smiles to our faces and we will definitely bring this forward to the next family, all because of this positive vibe she has brought to our family.”

Commenters were similarly moved as well, praising the big-hearted lady for the good deed. Some believed that the stranger must have presumed that Nannie was alone with her kids, while others were inspired to pay it forward to others too. 

ilyas@asiaone.com