The first restaurants may have appeared as early as AD 1100, when establishments in China catered for people travelling between the north and south of the country. Since then, countless restaurants have come and gone – while some have been feeding people for centuries. From casual cafés to fine dining establishments, these are the stories behind some of the oldest eateries you can still eat at today.

Click or scroll through our gallery to discover the world's most historic restaurants – counting down to the oldest of all.

We’ve based our selections and ranking on each restaurant’s claimed founding date, taking into account the age of the business and how long the property has been serving food.