@GET @Path("user/{userId}/likes") @Produces(MediaType.APPLICATION_JSON)
    public Payload<Iterable<Map<String, Object>>> getUserLikes(@PathParam("userId") long userId) {
        User user = neo4j.findOne(userId, User.class);
        Iterable<Interest> likeInterests = user.getLikeInterests();
        Iterable<Map<String, Object>> likes = Iterables.transform(likeInterests, new Function<Interest, Map<String, Object>>() {
            @Override
            public Map<String, Object> apply(Interest interest) {
                HashMap<String, Object> row = new HashMap<String, Object>();
                row.put("id", interest.getNodeId());
                row.put("name", interest.getName());
                return  row;
            }
        });
        return new Payload<Iterable<Map<String, Object>>>(likes);
    }

And one in Scala programming language :

    @GET @Path("user/{userId}/likes") @Produces(Array(MediaType.APPLICATION_JSON))
    def getUserLikes(@PathParam("userId") userId: Long): Payload[Iterable[Map[String, Object]]] = {
        val user = neo4j.findOne(userId, classOf[User])
        val likeInterests = user.getLikeInterests
        val likes = likeInterests.map(interest =>
          Map("id"->interest.getNodeId, "name"->interest.getName) )
        new Payload(likes)
    }

Is Scala hard to read? I'll leave it to you to decide. :-)

To learn more about Scala programming, I recommend Programming in Scala: A Comprehensive Step-by-Step Guide, 2nd Edition.