Here is the story of the first restaurant ever

The second gastronomic venue in history introduced the innovation of seating diners at separate tables.

The first restaurant named as such, dates back to 1765, when the chef Dossier Boulanger began serving restaurant wines in his premises located on Rue Des Poulies in Paris. Boulanger began to use the adjective ‘restaurateur” not only for his broths, but also for other solid dishes.

To attract his guests, at the entrance of the establishment he hung a sign that read:

“Come to me, you man with a weary stomach, and I will restore you.”

One of Boulanger’s competitors at the time was Mathurin Roze de Chantoiseau. The French businessman opened his restaurant in response to the elite’s search for health and the upper classes’ fascination with gastronomy. Roze also published a directory defending the medicinal and health aspects of food served in restaurants. One of the great innovations of the French was that diners sat at separate tables, because until now there were only taverns in which people sat at large shared tables.

After the French Revolution, several chefs who served the nobility began to open their restaurants. That was the case for the chef, Antoine Beauvilliers, who left the service of the Earl of Provence to open London’s La Grande Taverne. This was considered the best restaurateur in Paris due to the elegance of its halls and its waiters, its haute cuisine and its well-curated cellar, according to Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, author of Physiology of Taste, considered the first gastronomic treatise on the kitchen.

Thanks to Brillat-Savarin, a cultural value like cooking became universal. For him, the four requirements of a good restaurant were to enjoy a distinguished atmosphere, friendly service and, of course, a privileged kitchen and an outstanding wine cellar.