Part of a series on |
Meals |
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Common meals |
Breakfast · Brunch · Lunch · Tea · Dinner · Supper |
Components & courses |
Amuse-bouche · Appetizer · Cheese · Cocktails · Dessert · Drink · Entrée · Entremet · Fruit · Main course · Nuts · Salad · Side dish |
Related concepts |
Banquet · Buffet · Cuisine · Eating · Etiquette · Food · Global cuisines · Outline of cuisines · Snack |
Siu yeh | |||||||||||||
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A snack shop in Causeway Bay, Hong Kong selling snacks for siu yeh | |||||||||||||
Traditional Chinese | 宵夜 | ||||||||||||
Simplified Chinese | 宵夜 | ||||||||||||
Literal meaning | 宵 - overnight 夜 - night |
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Siu yeh (Chinese: 宵夜) is a late night meal in the food culture of Hong Kong. It comes after dinner, and is similar to supper. Mealtime may start from about 9pm onwards until 4am, which would be early morning yum cha time. It can range anywhere from a snack to a full-fledged meal. For people working late night shifts, siu yeh is also associated with their post-midnight meals. Siu yeh is also common in some parts of southern China, and is known there as yeh siu (Chinese: 夜宵).
Many youths now have the habit of eating siu yeh, due to long working hours or enjoying after-work entertainment. In late night or 24-hour restaurants offering siu yeh, the meal selection is similar to that for dinner. However, there are more smaller dishes such as street food, barbecued items and tong sui. As these places are cheaper than bars and discothèques, they are a popular alternative for late-night recreation.