Учебное пособие Санкт-Петербург 2010

Europe

According to the Guiness Book of Records, the Sobrino de Botin in Madrid, Spain, is the oldest true restaurant in existence today. It claims to have opened in 1725, though in a different location. The restaurant Tavares, in Lisbon, Portugal, continuously open since 1784 in the same location (though not the same building), claims to be the second oldest in the Iberian Peninsula. There is, however, evidence that Henry III of France ate at the still-extant Tour d’Argent, in Paris, France, on March 4, 1582. Another claim to be the world's oldest restaurant is made by Stiftskeller St. Peter, in Salzburg, Austria, which has been in existence since 803 AD, since the time of emperor Charlemagne, as an inn. The Franziskaner, a German restaurant in Stockholm, Sweden, claims to have been in operation at the same address, but in three different houses, since 1421.

The term restaurant (from the French restaurer, to restore) first appeared in the 16th century, meaning "a food which restores", and referred specifically to a rich, highly flavoured soup. It was first applied to an eating establishment in around 1765 founded by a Parisian soup-seller named Boulanger. The first restaurant in the form that became standard (customers sitting down with individual portions at individual tables, selecting food from menus, during fixed opening hours) was the Grand Taverne de Londres (the "Great Tavern of London"), founded in Paris in 1782 by a man named Antoine Beauvilliers, a leading culinary writer and gastronomic authority who achieved a reputation as a successful restaurateur. He later wrote what became a standard cookbook, L'Art du cuisinier (1814).

A leading restaurant of the Napoleonic era was the Véry, which was lavishly decorated and boasted a menu with extensive choices of soups, fish and meat dishes, and scores of side dishes. Balzac often dined there. Although absorbed by a neighboring business in 1869, the resulting establishment Le Grand V'efour is still in business.

The restaurant described by Britannica as the most illustrious of all those in Paris in the 19th century was the Café Anglais (the "English coffee-shop") on the Boulevard des Italiens, showing for a second time the high regard that Parisians evidently had for London, England, and the English — at least when it came to naming their restaurants.

Restaurants then spread rapidly across the world, with the first in the United States (Jullien's Restarator) opening in Boston in 1794. The oldest restaurant with contiguous operation in the United States, Union Oyster House is also in Boston and has been open since 1826. Most restaurants continued on the standard approach of providing a shared meal on the table to which customers would then help themselves (American service, commonly called "family style" restaurants), something which encouraged them to eat rather quickly. Another formal style of dining, where waiters carry platters of food around the table and diners serve themselves, is known as Russian service( or Silver Service), as it is said to have been introduced to France by the Russian Prince Kurakin in the 1810s, from where it spread rapidly to England and beyond.

French service is found only in the most luxurious and expensive restaurants. The food is cooked to perfection and garnished with much care is brought on show platters to guests. Most of the carving and portioning are done in front of the guest. French service is also known as Butler service.