Casa Botín, today called Sobrino de Botín , was founded on Calle Cuchilleros, 17, next to the Plaza Mayor in Madrid, by the Frenchman Jean Botin and his wife in 1725. Initially the name it bore was Hostería Botín, and it was It was an inn that offered food and lodging. It currently occupies four floors of the same Cuchilleros building and its specialty is traditional Castilian cuisine. The Guinness Book of Records considers it the oldest restaurant in the world .
However, the Tour d’Argent in Paris was founded in 1582, although it was also originally an inn. The first time the word restaurant was used to describe an establishment where meals were served was also in the French capital, but later, specifically in 1765. The promoter of the idea was called Mathurin Roze de Chantoiseau , a hospitality entrepreneur who dispatched soups and other recipes designed to restore – hence the term – the health and robustness of Parisians.
One of the characteristics of Mathurin’s restaurant, which distinguished it from the usual inns, was that customers could sit on separate nightstands, rather than on the classic large shared tables of the taverns. In addition, unlike traditional inns and inns, which served a fixed menu for everyone, diners could choose between various dishes and paid according to the order.
Mathurin’s invention caught on, and in 1782 it was inaugurated, also in the French capital, La Grande Taverne in London, with more sophisticated sights. According to the gourmet Brillat-Savarin, it was the first restaurant “to combine the four fundamentals of good food : an elegant dining room, well-dressed waiters, a select wine cellar and high-quality cuisine.”
Photography: Esetena
