• Stay at Harbour Plaza Hotel - Whampoa. President Jiang Zemin stayed here during the turnover event. It has an amazing ocean view, not congested, and is minutes away from the ferry that takes you to the HK island side.
• Eat at Choi Lan Food strip. It is located at Whampoa Garden, this an aggregation of all that is old-timer good in Hong Kong (i.e. these restaurants are tried-and-true, and been around for a long long time). You will find the best place for won ton noodles (it remains one of few places that uses shrimp to make the soup base), Taiwanese dumplings (Ding Tai Fung), dan dan noodles (this restaurant was previously at Diamond Hill, a district where many Chinese immigrants lived when they came to HK in the 1940s and 50s). After your meal, stop by the dessert cart for some traditional Hong Kong desserts like boot chai go, a gelatin-like sweet cake with red beans. Prepare for long lines, but this is where locals flock and tourists don't know about, but should.
• Eat at Katiga. It is a locally popular Japanese restaurant that is very kitschy. Food is ok, but go for a taste of where young kids go for fun and some HK/Japanese pop culture. This is hidden on an alleyway in an industrial area in Hung Hom. Take a cab there.
• Eat at Maxim's. It is one of the best dim sum places around, hands down. Tons of variety, fresh ingredients, and above average service. Must tries: shrimp and chives dumpling, ha gows, mango and shrimp fried roll, and for the more adventurous, marinated bone marrow (tastes much better than it sounds).
• Many dim sum places have special discounts during brunch and afternoon tea hours. As long as you don't go to lunch from 11:30-2pm, you can experience a sizable discount off your bill. Most restaurants charge you for the small plates of peanuts and chili. You can take them, or take them. These are mandatory charges. 10% tip is already included in the bill. Most people leave just a little bit more (around 3-5%).
• Most clothing stores will alter garments for free. Some may even do this on premise while you wait.

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