I write about fancy restaurants a good bit, but the way I eat much of the time? Budget. Easy. Neighborhood. Home-cooked or on-the-run. For street food, there are few things more carnally satisfying than greasy chunks of lamb on a skewer. The best kabobs are roasted on the huge Xinjiang ovens, and you just want to look for high fresh meat turnover. At popular corner kabob spot Dong Yi Shun (Zhejiang Dong Lu, Guangdong Lu) you can often see the sheep carcasses getting hauled off the truck.

I take frequent breaks when I'm writing at night, so I love the swing-a-cat proximity of 24-hour stores in Shanghai. That’s when I grab a cold coffee or "Mocca" at my next door Alldays for just ¥2-4. My favorite ingenious packaging design is the plastic wrapper for Lawson's triangular rice balls (¥2.5), with fillings like salmon and crab. Microwave for 30 seconds if you like, then ever-so-gently open it according to the one, two instructions and voila!–Your rice ball is magically enveloped in crisp seaweed. Convenience store tea eggs, boiled for eons in black tea, are another staple for me.

For a quick picnic, I get sushi at Freshmart where a box of five pieces, including salmon and eel, is ¥25. An even better deal is to grab lunch with a few friends and split the 21-piece platter for only ¥53. Also at Freshmart, I can't resist the aroma of Beard Papa, the ubiquitous Japanese cream puff emporium. The addictive custard in choux pastry is worth double the ¥6 price tag. Second to high calorie pastries, my top snacks are from the wet market: fresh fruit. How can you tell which native fruits are in season? Check what the street vendors have hanging from their shoulder poles today, it's a sure sign that's the ripest fruit around. Right now yangmei and lychees are bursting with sugary juice. And unlike a few years ago, lemons are available everywhere. Squeeze a pitcher of lemonade using chilled water. Add smashed leaves from your windowsill mint plant, which can be bought at the Wan Shang Bird and Flower Market (405 Xizang Nan Lu), and you have an infallible summer quencher.

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