Where else but Canberra could a Chinese restaurant be deemed neutral territory, where politicians lay down their rivalries and pick up chopsticks instead.
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At Kingston's China Plate on Thursday morning, Christopher Pyne was photographed ducking through the restaurant's glass front doors for a "bi-partisan lunch" with Labor MP Anthony Albanese, hosted by Annabel Crabb for ABC's Kitchen Cabinet.
Minister Pyne is already familiar with the restaurant, having dined there with Clive Palmer and Finance Minister Mathias Cormann last year while battling with controversial higher-education reforms.
Mr Palmer, who called the dinner "chopstick diplomacy", admitted to reporters waiting out the front that the trio "had agreement over the fried rice".
That meal helped earn the South Canberra suburb a bit of a reputation as a power-broking hot spot.
Also in Kingston, Mr Palmer recommended the caramelised banana and coconut ice-cream at the Wild Duck restaurant, after he dined there during a secret meeting with then-Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull.
For the Hoang Hau Vietnamese restaurant - just around the corner from China Plate - notoriety began in June 2010, when Bill Shorten was filmed alongside former frontbencher Kate Ellis and SA senator Don Farrell working the phones as the coup against Kevin Rudd unfolded.
No doubt these previous restaurant meetings played into the decision to film the bi-partisan episode of Kitchen Cabinet at China Plate.
More traditional episodes this season with feature the homes of Treasurer Scott Morrison, Motoring Enthusiast Party Senator Ricky Muir, Leader of the Greens Senator Richard Di Natale and Labor's Senator Nova Peris.
