I'm debating between the Mandarin Oriental and the Shangri-La, Club Rooms at both properties. Any thoughts? How are the restaurants at each hotel?

Which city?

Oops, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

I'm not fond of the Shangri-La, it's too large and glitzy for me. Someone here gave rave reviews to the Mandarin Oriental, and I expect will respond here.

I recently stayed at the Ritz Carlton in an Executive rooms and had a wonderful experience. You can read about my stay in a report I posted entitled "Kathie goes to KL"

Oh, and I thought the French restaurant in teh Shangri-La was way over-priced. I highly recommend Frangipani for a special dinner. It was superlative!

I stayed at the Mandarin Oriental a few years ago and it remains one of my most favourite hotels ever. Views over the park are lovely and the pool area is great - the staff bring you cool wet towels whilst you are lounging on the sunbeds. The location is directly next to the Petronas towers and there are always plenty of taxis outside for venturing further afield. The restaurants were fantastic. I didn't see the Shangri La but cannot imagine it would be as good as the Mandarin.

In terms of the restaurants within the hotel, I'd say Shangri-La has the edge.

But the Mandarin is just next to KLCC, which is a good shopping destination and has its share of nice food outlets as well.

We're currently staying at the Mandarin Oriental on the Club Floor - can't speak for the Shangra La, which I saw today from the monorail, but the Mandarin has been wonderful. We had a late dinner last night in Bilba's Cafe, which was very good. Breakfast, high tea and happy hour have been very good, so haven't had the chance to check out the other hotel restaurants. Location can't be beat IMO - right next to KLCC - we've got an awesome view of the Petronas Towers from our 27th floor room.

To Melnq8..
Is there any pollution in the city,like Bangkok, or is it fairly clean.Not forgetting the lack of pavements of course..
I'm going in May and staying at the Ritz carlton.

Lesg -

I've only passed through Bangkok on previous trips, so can't really compare the two. KL isn't nearly as clean as Singapore, but it doesn't feel dirty - just some scattered trash here and there in parking lots etc. If you leave the city center (like we did when we took the monorail from end to end) it does become more rundown and dirty along the edges of the city.

We haven't encountered any air pollution - just lots of and heat and humidity. It's pretty steamy here, as in most areas of SE Asia.

It's certainly not a pedestrian friendly place - hard to get around on foot.

We stayed at the MO 2yrs ago and its still my fav hotel ever. amazing views from the room, ideally located. Staff are really friendly. the restaurants serves great food and are reasonably priced. I would go totally go for this option. Enjoy KL its a great city!