The Oldest Restaurant In (Almost) Every Country
Good food is a cultural treasure that is handed down through generations.
Many of the world’s oldest businesses are restaurants for the simple reason that delicious, familiar food never goes out of fashion. Everywhere in the world, we eat variations on centuries-old recipes embedded in the place we come from. Restaurant culture tells us who we are, where we’ve been, and where we are today.
NetCredit’s new series of maps reveals the oldest eatery you’ll find in nearly every country in the world. We searched websites, forums, and eating guides to identify the longest-running restaurant businesses that are still serving today. And we made sure to find out what their signature dish is – to give you a flavor of the national culture.
It’s no picnic keeping a restaurant in business across centuries of war, changing tastes, and economic turmoil. Restaurateurs and the descendants or investors who follow them need the right combo of location, kitchen wizardry, insight, and luck. These are the 10 of the world’s oldest restaurants still serving food today.
|
Founded |
Country |
Restaurant |
Specialty dish |
|
803 |
Austria |
St. Peter Stifts Kulinarium |
Tafelspitz (boiled beef with minced apple & horseradish). |
|
1146 |
Germany |
Wurtskuchl |
Charcoal-grilled sausages & sauerkraut. |
|
1147 |
Wales |
The Old House |
Old House Pie – Individually made pie served with chips & peas. |
|
1153 |
China |
Ma Yu Ching’s Bucket Chicken House |
Bucket of chicken. |
|
1198 |
Ireland |
The Brazen Head |
Bangers and Mash. |
|
1345 |
France |
La Couronne |
Pressed duck, standing rib roast, and classic escargot. |
|
1360 |
Scotland |
The Sheep Heid Inn |
Prime Steak with rustic chips, roasted mushroom, confit tomato and parsley butter. |
|
1380 |
Liechtenstein |
Hotel Gasthof Löwen |
Sliced veal “Zurich style” with Rösti and vegetables. |
|
1465 |
Japan |
Honke Owariya |
Soba with shiitake mushrooms, shredded thin omelet, sesame seeds, shrimp tempura, wasabi, nori, Japanese leeks & grated daikon. |
|
1467 |
Slovenia |
Gostilna Gastuž |
Mushroom soup with buckwheat porridge. |
Middle East & Central Asia’s Oldest Eateries
Aşçı Bacaksız has passed along generations of the same Turkish family in Afyonkarahisar since 1840. You can expect to be greeted by a member of the family before sitting in a chair that is 100 years old or more. The lamb kebab is famous in the region: it takes three days to prepare.
Edmond Barakat opened a staff cafeteria for an automobile company in 1953, and it soon became a popular destination for the general public. The restaurant’s name changed from “Alghanim Mess” (as in ‘mess hall’) to Mais Alghanim in 1987. Today, Barakat’s children and grandchildren run Mais Alghanim as Kuwait’s oldest restaurant. The umm ali (sweet pastry) comes highly recommended.
