When and where did the practice of going somewhere outside of your home and paying someone to cook and serve you a meal originate?
I don’t know where and when it began, but I read that in ancient Rome it was pretty common to obtain meals at locations other than one’s home.
Resturants probably began as soon as humans began to cook. Preparing meals in communal fashion makes sense if you have a small group of people. People with a talent for cooking probably began to specialize in it, and later, specialized in certain foods. (Urg makes the best bread in town!)
We know that the workers who built the pyramids got their food from communal kitchens and ate in large “lunchrooms” with long tables and trenches for debris. All over the world, wine and beer shops usually supplied food for their patrons, so that’s probably where the first real “resturants” came from.
A lot of homes in medieval times didn’t have a lot of kitchen utensils or ovens. It was common to take your food to a “cook shop” in London, or to buy whole meals from a tavern to take home.
IIRC, the oldest written account of the practice of paying to eat at an establishment began in China.
The oldest restaurant currently in existence is the Sobrino de Botin in Madrid, established in the 1720’s.
As people started to travel, the restaurant business picked up. Where you find travellers and commonly-travelled routes, you find Inns. Inns are probably the origination of what the Western world would consider restaurants. Born from Inns are menus, staff, dedicated facilities and kitchens.
Sure, many of these things happened around the globe in one shape or another, but the Inn eventually led to the modern concept of a restaurant.
The Guinness Book says the world’s oldest restaurant is Botin in Madrid
http://www.madaboutmadrid.com/guide/2003/11/botn_the_oldest.html
But I suspect they mean the oldest restaurant that’s still in existence.
In his book “Three Ancient Cuisines” Jeff Smith said that some of the world’s oldest restaurants were the dim sum restaurants in China. He defined them as places specifically built and operated to serve food to paying customers.
Also, here is some more history.
This one doesn’t go back far enough for your OP, but it was so interesting, I had to include it!
Hope it helps!