The Bund
In 1999, Garnaut expanded the M Restaurant Group to Shanghai by opening M on the Bund on the historic waterfront. After testing the market as a guest chef cooking western food at the famous Peace Hotel on the Bund, Garnaut decided to establish a restaurant overlooking the Bund, the Huangpu River and Pudong. Garnaut opened M on the Bund during a time when the Bund was not nearly the attraction that it is today. Devoid of upscale restaurants, luxury stores, cafes, and bars of the present day, Garnaut's choice of location on the Bund was surprising, and in retrospect, pioneering. As Garnaut said in a 2004 interview with The Wall Street Journal, "People said I was crazy. The Bund was dark and dingy. This was a real risk." Though critics predicted the failure of the venture, and M on the Bund was the sole upscale independent western restaurant on the Bund for a full five years, it quickly became a landmark, and eventually other restaurants, bars and luxury venues followed. Like M at the Fringe, M on the Bund found popularity with the social elite including celebrities like Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe, supermodel Tyra Banks, the Ferragamo family, the United Kingdom's Prince Edward, media tycoon Rupert Murdoch, the queen of Thailand and the prince of the Netherlands. M on the Bund also found success with a variety of awards from the Miele Guide, Zagat, and Conde Nast.