Best of Hong Kong

Best coffee:

Nosh on Tai Ping Shan Street for smooth roast, perfect milk foam and rubbing shoulders with French gay hipsters

Deadend Cafe for dark roast and delicious baked goodies from adjacent Po's Atelier and rubbing shoulders on the weekend with a mix of expats, locals, yuppies and hipsters

Java Java for consistent mellow roast, relaxed vibe, loads of interior design books/magazines you can peruse, and rubbing shoulders with aspiring writers

Fuel for rich & dark roast if you're willing to pay twice the price for half the amount of all other cafes and enjoy rubbing shoulders with a bunch of suits

Agnes B. on Gough Street for smooth roast, French cafe charm and delicious desserts

Best dim sum:

Star Seafood on Des Voeux Street for authentic, excellent dim sum if you don't mind being surrounded by HK's senior citizen population

Tim Ho Wan for Michelin-starred dim sum, including their famous baked barbecue pork pineapple bun, if you don't mind eating inside a subway station and waiting in line for 30-45 minutes, then being rushed out as soon as you sit down

Best milk tea:

Tsui Wah - a Hong Kong institution and a must-visit for strong and creamy milk tea and their famous, addictive "pork buns" which have no pork in them but are two halves of a plain roll buttered and toasted and drizzled with condensed milk

Best xia long bao and/or Taiwanese Shanghainese:

Din Tai Fung in Causeway Bay for their heavenly black truffle and plain xia long bao - absolutely perfect

Best Sichuan:

Qi House of Sichuan for four-alarm spicy Sichuan food that will make you sweat and hiss your tongue in pain/heat from the exquisitely spicy and delicious food

Chilli Fagara if you don't mind the overload of MSG (and I don't) it's still my favorite Sichuan place in Hong Kong, and the world

Best Cantonese:

Summer Palace in the Island Shangri-la for exquisite seafood

Best Peking duck:
Peking Garden at Alexandra House
Summer Palace at Island Shangri-la

Best hotpot:

Megan's Kitchen for creative ingredients and soups

Tanyoto for Sichuan style hotpot

San Xi Lou for Sichuan style hotpot

Best Vietnamese:

Noodle Mi on Bonham Strand for MSG-free, unfussy Vietnamese food - my favorite is the turmeric fish bun noodles

Nha Trang for MSG-loaded, consistently delicious, wallet-friendly cuisine - everything here is good, especially the lemongrass grilled meats, bun noodles, Vietnamese ravioli, chicken salad, filet of sole summer roll, and braised pork ribs which are only available in the Central location at lunch on Wednesdays

Best Spanish:

BCN for creative, authentic Catalonian cuisine

Best Cal-Mex:

Brickhouse, if you don't mind paying $7 per taco (highway robbery!)

Best haute Japanese:

Sushi Ta-ke

Sushi Sase

Best mid-range Japanese:

Sushi Kuu

Best budget Japanese:

Ginza Bairin

Best Vegetarian:

Life Cafe

Best Steak:

The Steakhouse at Intercontinental

Best cheesecake:

Ruth's Chris - their cheesecake is so good that cheesecake gets its own "best of"

Best burger:

The Lily Cheeseburger at Lily & Bloom, with bacon, gruyere, truffle mayo and house-made pickle

Best Thai:

Ayuthaiya

Best Italian:

Panevino - homey and cozy, I prefer their house-made pasta dishes to all the fancy Italian in Hong Kong

Best lobster pasta:
The Landmark Cafe

Best bao:
Pork belly bao at Little Bao

Best overhyped hipster restaurant:
Yardbird

Best French:

The Krug Room at Mandarin Oriental

Best Indian:
Bombay Dreams

Best wine bar:

California Vintage on Wyndham Street

Best bar:

001- Hong Kong's not-so-secret secret bar, its answer to NY's Milk & Honey, except I think 001 is waaaay better with fantastic cocktails, delicious food, privacy and plush, cozy decor.

Ted's Lookout - intimate, cozy, great cocktails and bar snacks

Best cheapo lunch:

Simply Life at Citibank Tower has the best Chinese takeout (like Panda Express, except a trillion times better) and Chinese roasted meats, as well as a great prepared salad selection - all for about $7-10, depending on how much food you choose

Best lunch on expense account:

Nicholini's at Conrad hotel for great antipasti selection followed by fantastic pasta

Gold for fantastic salad bar

Isola for best antipasti bar in Hong Kong

Cafe Gray Deluxe for great food, great vibe, great decor, great service

Best afternoon tea:

Cafe Gray Deluxe - I love everything about this place, including the decor, service, view, scones, coffee, tea and tea service, which is why it gets mentioned twice

Lobby Lounge at Intercontinental - excellent tea service with views of Hong Kong harbour

Best hotel:

The Upper House

Best nail salon:

10 Perfect Nails on Wellington Street - ask for Hitomi

Best hair salon: 

Doesn't exist, haven't found a single salon in Hong Kong yet that isn't utter crap. 

Best hotel spa:

Trick topic because why would you spend $200 for a massage at a hotel spa when you can spend 1/4 of that for a terrific massage at Ten Feet Tall. However, if you must waste your money, Bliss Spa at the W, the Grand Hyatt Spa and the Mandarin Oriental Spa all offer beautiful facilities and great service.

Best mid-price massage:

Ten Feet Tall - the first massage place that is clean and spa-like, but without the hotel spa prices

Best dirty dirty hole-in-the-wall massage:

Joy Ocean for consistently good foot/body massages if you don't mind how disgustingly dirty the premises are

Best art framer:

Artmen at 110 Queen's Road East

Best furniture store:

Indigo

Best places to take visitors:

The Peak via the Peak Tram

The big buddha on Lantau Island via Ngong Ping 360 cable car

Dragon's Back hike

Star Ferry between Central and TST

Light show at 8 pm nightly from TST pier

Seafood dinner on Lamma Island

Junk trip during the summer

Tram ride across town

Best places to spend weekends as a resident:

PoHo/Tai Ping Shan Street - no end of caffeinating options with Po's Atelier, Deadend Cafe, Nosh, Teakha and Java Java

Hollywood Road - sit outside at Classified with a glass of wine and people-watch, eat a bloody steak at Blue Butcher or Thai street food at Cha Cha Wan, walk around the antique shops and art galleries, and get a nightcap at 208

Gough Street - charming lane with hipster boutique shops, famous local noodle shop and Agnes B. cafe

Star Street area - yuppie hipster central with lots of boutique shops around Moon Street, great restaurants and bars including Ted's Lookout

Hiking any of Hong Kong's amazing and gorgeous hiking trails

Junk trips during the summer