On trying to find out the meaning of a 'cabinet particulier' (a private room, it turns out, in 19th century top-notch Parisian restaurants, popular for lovers' rendezvous) I accidentally found out where the term 'restaurant' itself is thought to have originated: in the mid 1800s, an enterprising French soup-maker named Monsieur Boulanger began advertising his 'restoratives' - or 'restaurants' - soups and broths designed to turn the frail to hail and hearty...et voila: le reste, as they say, is histoire.
