I'm convinced Hong Kong has some of the best restaurants in the world -- which makes it extremely difficult to choose the best of the best. Nevertheless, the following are my personal favorites.

Best Spot for a Romantic Dinner: With views of Hong Kong's fabled harbor, live piano music, French cuisine, and one of Hong Kong's best wine lists, Petrus, Island Shangri-La Hotel, Supreme Court Road, Central (tel. 852/2820 8590), sets the mood for a special evening à deux. You'll want to linger for some time here, savoring the Mediterranean-influenced food, the castle-like ambience, the view, and each other.

Best Spot for a Business Lunch: Since 1963, business travelers have favored the Mandarin Grill, Mandarin Oriental Hotel, 5 Connaught Rd., Central (tel. 852/2522 0111), conveniently located in the heart of Hong Kong's financial and business district. It offers drawing-room comfort and high-powered food, a winning combination for clinching those business deals. And since no children are allowed except for Sunday brunch, business deals won't have to compete with toddler theatrics.

Best Spot for a Celebration: An elegant, colonial-age setting, attentive service, dependably good French haute cuisine, and an extensive wine list make Gaddi's, The Peninsula hotel, Salisbury Road, Tsim Sha Tsui (tel. 852/2315 3171), a natural for a splurge or special celebration. If, however, your idea of a celebration is more exuberant and youthful, you can do no better than M at the Fringe, 2 Lower Albert Rd., Central (tel. 852/2877 4000), a Hong Kong favorite for its quirky interior, artsy crowd, and always excellent creative cuisine.

Best Decor: The avant-garde Felix, in The Peninsula hotel, Salisbury Road, Tsim Sha Tsui (tel. 852/2315 3188), was designed by Philippe Starck. In addition to providing Hong Kong's most unusual, innovative setting, the restaurant offers stunning views, one of the world's smallest discos, and slightly exhibitionist bathrooms. Wear your trendiest duds -- you, too, will be part of the display.

Best View: In a town famous for its views, you might as well go to the very top, where the curved facade of Cafe Deco, Peak Galleria, Victoria Peak (tel. 852/2849 5111), offers Hong Kong's best panorama, along with live jazz in the evening and moderately priced -- though occasionally mediocre -- international cuisine. Reserve a harbor-view window seat a couple of weeks in advance; what you're really paying for here is the unparalleled view.

Best Wine List: Not only does SPOON by Alain Ducasse, Hotel InterContinental Hong Kong, Salisbury Road, Tsim Sha Tsui (tel. 852/2313 2256), offer great harbor views, excellent contemporary French cuisine, and impeccable service, but it also boasts a selection of 3,000 bottles of wine, on view at the restaurant's entrance.

Best Cantonese Cuisine: With some of the world's best Cantonese restaurants located in Hong Kong, this is obviously a tough call, but you can't go wrong at the very sophisticated and classy Yan Toh Heen, Hotel InterContinental Hong Kong, Salisbury Road, Tsim Sha Tsui (tel. 852/2721 1211), where the emphasis is on stark simplicity, a view of the harbor, and traditional and creative dishes that border on Chinese nouvelle cuisine.

Best Chinese for the Uninitiated: If you're unfamiliar with Chinese food beyond sweet-and-sour pork and feel -- perhaps reluctantly -- that Hong Kong is the place to widen your horizons, Shang Palace, Kowloon Shangri-La Hotel, 64 Mody Rd., Tsim Sha Tsui East (tel. 852/2733 8754), is a good introduction to the almost limitless variety of Cantonese food, all listed on an English menu. It's also a good place to try dim sum for the first time. The helpful staff is happy to make recommendations. The elaborately decorated lacquered walls and Chinese lanterns all fit the fantasy of a Chinese restaurant in Asia.

Best Chinese Hot Spot: Make reservations early for Hutong, on the 28th floor of an office building at 1 Peking Road, Tsim Sha Tsui (tel. 852/3428 8342). This place is as hip as a Chinese restaurant can be, with fantastic views over Hong Kong, a darkened interior with splashes of red lighting, and innovative northern Chinese cuisine. Dining here will want to make you live forever, if only to see what can possibly top this; this being Hong Kong, something eventually will.

Best Dim Sum Experience: The quaint ceiling fans, spittoons, and wooden booths evoke a 1930s ambience at Luk Yu Tea House, 24-26 Stanley St., Central (tel. 852/2523 5464). First opened in 1933, it's one of Hong Kong's oldest restaurants, famous for its dim sum and filled daily with regular customers. It's hard to find an empty seat here but worth the effort.

Best American Cuisine: There's no better place in town for a Caesar salad than Napa, Kowloon Shangri-La Hotel, 64 Mody Rd., Tsim Sha Tsui East (tel. 852/2733 8752), where you can follow your salad with Californian cuisine that includes pastas and seafood. The great harbor views make it a perfect place for a relaxed lunch or dinner.

Best French Cuisine: Petrus, Island Shangri-La (see "Best Spot for a Romantic Dinner," above) is the top French restaurant in more ways than one: It's located on the 56th floor and offers breathtaking harbor views. Decorated like a French castle, it features contemporary French creations and one of Hong Kong's most definitive wine lists, delivered by a professional and discreet staff.

Best Italian Cuisine: There are a lot of contenders in this category, but the harbor views, airy palatial setting, and traditional northern Italian home-style cooking combine to make Grissini, Grand Hyatt Hong Kong Hotel, 1 Harbour Rd., Wan Chai (tel. 852/2588 1234), a favorite choice for lunch or dinner.

Best Western/Asian Fusion Cuisine: Trendy restaurants utilizing Western and Asian ingredients to create new dishes are the vogue in Hong Kong, but few carry it off as masterfully as Vong, Mandarin Oriental Hotel, 5 Connaught Rd., Central (tel. 852/2522 0111), offering what is arguably the best interpretation of Franco-Asian cuisine in this part of the hemisphere (same owner/chef as the Vong in New York City), as well as great views of the harbor and a nattily dressed crowd.

Best Seafood: Huge decorative seafood tanks and views of Victoria Harbour provide the perfect setting for a memorable seafood dinner at Yü, Hotel InterContinental Hong Kong, Salisbury Road, Tsim Sha Tsui (tel. 852/2721 1211). Lobster, crabs, prawns, abalone, mussels, and fish are kept alive until the decisive moment. Chefs prepare your food according to your wishes; there are also imported oysters and a sushi bar.

Best Buffet Spread: Lots of hotels offer buffets, but none can match the sheer extravagance and chic atmosphere of café TOO, Island Shangri-La Hotel, Supreme Court Road, Central (tel. 852/2820 8571, ext. 8571). Overlooking the greenery of Hong Kong Park and sporting a hip, contemporary look, it features open kitchens and seven "stations" of food presentations spread throughout the restaurant, eliminating the assembly-line atmosphere inherent in most buffet restaurants. The danger? The temptation to try every delectable dish on display.

Best Steaks: Juicy U.S. prime Midwestern beef, broiled to perfection, is the forte of American chain Ruth's Chris Steak House, 68 Mody Rd., Tsim Sha Tsui East (tel. 852/2366 6000) and 89 Queensway, Central (tel. 852/2522 9090), along with side dishes of mashed potatoes, sautéed spinach, and Caesar salad. This place is guaranteed to satisfy the cravings of the most dedicated carnivore.

Best Burgers and Beer: Dan Ryan's Chicago Grill, with two locations both sides of the harbor at 88 Queensway, Central (tel. 852/2845 4600), and Ocean Terminal (tel. 852/2735 6111), offers casual dining, good burgers (and other good American food), and drinks throughout the day; its Kowloon branch even provides a view of the busy harbor.

Best Pizza: Located in Hong Kong's prime nightlife district, Baci Pizza, 1 Lan Kwai Fong, Central (tel. 852/2840 0153), is a small casual pizzeria offering delicious, wafer-thin pizzas at reasonable prices, as well as pastas.

Best Outdoor Dining: Atop Victoria Peak, away from the constant drone of Hong Kong's traffic, is the delightful Peak Lookout, 121 Peak Rd., Victoria Peak (tel. 852/2849 1000), which serves international cuisine. From an outdoor terrace surrounded by lush foliage, you can actually hear the birds sing. Some tables provide views of Hong Kong Island's southern coast. Musicians entertain nightly with oldies but goldies.

Best for Families: Mövenpick Marché, Peak Tower, Victoria Peak (tel. 852/2849 2000), is a cafeteria offering something for everyone (pizza and pasta for the kids, international fare and drinks for the parents), along with great views of Hong Kong. It's also one of the few restaurants that actually acknowledge the existence of kids, with a children's corner complete with a toddler slide, toys, crayons, and other diversions. For older kids, there's a Ripley's Believe It or Not! Odditorium, Madame Tussaud's, and a motion-simulation theater in the same building on the Peak.

Best Place to Chill Out: If the stress of travel and the noise and crowds of Hong Kong have pushed you to the breaking point, take a ferry to one of the open-air seafood restaurants on the waterfront of Sok Kwu Wan village on Lamma island, where you can dine on fresh seafood, drink a beer or two, and regain perspective. For even more relaxation, hike to one of the island's beaches.

Best Afternoon Tea: For that most British institution, no place is more famous than the golden-age and unparalleled Peninsula Hotel Lobby, Salisbury Road, Tsim Sha Tsui (tel. 852/2920 2888), where you can nibble on delicate finger sandwiches and scones, watch the parade of people, and listen to live classical music being played from an upstairs balcony.

Best Sunday Brunch: You'll be spoiled forever -- or at least for the rest of the day -- if you begin Sunday morning at The Verandah, 109 Repulse Bay Rd., Repulse Bay (tel. 852/2812 2722), complete with a three-piece band. Wonderfully reminiscent of the colonial era, it features Hong Kong's most famous Sunday spread, with main courses like eggs Benedict from a menu, a carving of the day, pasta cooked to order, sushi, dim sum, and more. If ever there were a place that inspired champagne for breakfast, this is it.

Best Desserts: I was born without a sweet tooth, but even I was tempted when the dessert cart was wheeled out at the end of a memorable dinner at Sabatini, Royal Garden hotel, 69 Mody Rd., Tsim Sha Tsui East (tel. 852/2733 2000). The sinfully rich creations were all lovingly described and looked equally delicious. In the end, I went for the tiramisu, and I can't imagine the meal without it.