Before sunrise: while Sydney sleeps, suhoor meals attract a lively social scene during Ramadan

Suhoor – the pre-dawn meal – is typically shared at home. But in Sydney customers also queue outside food trucks, restaurants and cafes with extended trading hours It’s just after midnight in an industrial courtyard in Auburn in Sydney’s west and a glow of string lights and the constant sizzle of a grill signal one of Ramadan’s newest late-night rituals. A food truck specialising in halal steak sandwiches has attracted a small crowd and a queue begins to form. The rest of the city is largely asleep but here the courtyard hums with life as young Muslims arrive in waves after evening taraweeh prayers, chatting and checking their phones as the clock edges closer to suhoor – the pre-dawn meal eaten during Ramadan before the day’s fast begins. Inside The Meat Up, a Lebanese husband-and-wife duo move quickly over the grill. Steak sandwiches – stacked with slices of beef, melted cheese and rich chimichurri – slide across the counter as customers wait patiently for their orders. “It’s been like this every single night of Ramadan,” says Wafaa Kamaleddine, who launched the business only a few weeks ago with her husband, Mahamed Said. “The community has really shown up and alhamdulillah – we