Restaurant (à la carte dining at private tables)
Restaurante (comida a la carta en mesas propias)
- Date
- c. 1765 · confidence medium
- Place
- Paris, France
- Credited to
- Boulanger and the first Parisian restaurateurs
- Field
- Life & health
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
An establishment offering dishes chosen from a menu, at any hour and at individual tables, rather than a set-price shared table. Its name comes from the restorative broths (restaurants) served in Paris.
The date and the figure of a certain Boulanger (1765) are disputed tradition; eating houses already existed in Song-dynasty Kaifeng (11th century) and in European taverns.
What it led to
- public haute cuisine after the French Revolution
- professionalisation of cooks and food critics
- gastronomic guides and stars