In the 18th century, the café-concert or café-chantant appeared, which offered food along with music, singers, or magicians. The Café des Aveugles in the cellars of the Palais-Royal (beginning of the 19th century) The Caveau continued until 1816, when it was forced to close because its clients wrote songs mocking the royal government. In 1773, French poets, painters, musicians and writers began to meet in a cabaret called Le Caveau on rue de Buci, where they composed and sang songs. Writers such as La Fontaine, Moliere and Jean Racine were known to frequent a cabaret called the Mouton Blanc on rue du Vieux-Colombier, and later the Croix de Lorraine on the modern rue Bourg-Tibourg. In the 17th century, a clearer distinction emerged when taverns were limited to selling wine, and later to serving roast meats.Ĭabarets were frequently used as meeting places for writers, actors, friends and artists. Early on, cabarets were considered better than taverns by the end of the sixteenth century, they were the preferred place to dine out. They were not particularly associated with entertainment even if musicians sometimes performed in both. They were distinguished from taverns because they served food as well as wine, the table was covered with a cloth, and the price was charged by the plate, not the mug. National history French taverns Ĭabarets had appeared in Paris by at least the late 15th century. The word cambret, itself probably derived from an earlier form of chambrette, little room, or from the Norman French chamber meaning tavern, itself derived from the Late Latin word camera meaning an arched roof. The term was used since the 13th century in Middle Dutch to mean an inexpensive inn or restaurant ( caberet, cabret). The first printed use of the word kaberet is found in a document from 1275 in Tournai. The term originally came from Picard language or Walloon language words camberete or cambret for a small room (12th century).