As Jean-Paul Sartre wrote, “Hell is other people.” For Australia’s corporate elite, that makes the private dining room an indispensable tool of business. Not just for the prestige, but for the privacy; a necessity when the board is meeting in another city, or you want to thank your top clients, celebrate the closing of a deal, or bring the team together to tell war stories over a shared table.

As with most things relating to dining in Australia in 2024, the PDR (private dining room) has changed. These days, it could be a theatre, poker room, wine bar, or public-but-private corner of a former stock exchange. Here’s our pick of 10 of the best around the country.