Belfast Eats out?

From time to time i am asked to recommend somewhere to eat,normally by someone visiting our fair city.

This is a problem for me because while i love to go out to eat i wouldnt normally venture into the city centre. (i see enough of the place as it is).


So i was wondering where would you guys recommend?

There are places i pick up from regularly and get to hear about the food and the service but of course there are plenty of restaurant's i never hear about.

Depending on what kind of restaurant i am asked about some of the places i would normally direct folks too are.

1
Ginger on Hope St, i have lifted punters from here for a few years and only ever heard one complaint which was from an American who was unhappy they were not serving steak.

2
The Mourne Seafood Bar, Once again picked up here alot and not heard more than an odd whinge normally about something petty, plus i have tasted there food (seafood chowder) which was fantastic.

3
Macau on the Ormeau Rd would be the Chinese i would sent folks to early in the evening, or later the Dragon Rendezvous later on in the evening.

So if you where asked where would you recommend?

BTD

Hello is there anyone out there???

OK where the hell has everyone gone?
Belfast over the last few months has been getting slowly quieter.

I know the first few months of the year are always a bit slow but this just ain't funny know more.

I cant believe I'm about to say this but has the credit crunch really taken hold so badly that know one is leaving the homes anymore.

Saturday night was the quietest i have ever worked since i started driving a cab a few select bars where busy but most where dead, i picked several staff sent home early as they where not needed.

I know times are tight they are for most of us but i really didn't think thing where as bad as this, every week i tell myself that this week is when it will start to pick up just too end up disappointing myself.

I suppose there wont be a pick realistically until St Patricks day.

Still enough moaning because while moaning is something every good cabby can do for hours on any subject it don't help.
But it does make you feel better
:) btd:)

Multiple murderer wants to drive belfast taxi!!!

A Basque separatist convicted of 25 murders has lost his legal battle for a licence to work as a taxi driver in west Belfast.

Jose Ignacio de Juana Chaos is fighting separate extradition proceedings on allegations of glorifying terrorism.

On Tuesday, a judge said there appeared to be a "blatant attempt to mislead" over his record in his cab application.

His lawyers told Belfast Magistrates Court he had left his violent past behind and wanted a fresh start.

His barrister told the court Mr de Juana Chaos, 54, should be treated as an exception to the rule where ex-prisoners can only apply for taxi licences three years after completing their sentence.

"The offending behaviour purely related to the political theatre," he said.

"The people subjected to the violence were members of the police force in Spain."

Mr de Juana Chaos was released from prison in August 2008.

His lawyer said he has now removed himself from the political conflict and wants to drive specified routes for the West Belfast Taxi Association, where his wife works.

"The reason why my client came here... having committed very serious offences, is to benefit, even if only indirectly, from the way in which this society is prepared to give people who have committed awful offences a chance and a new start," the lawyer said.

He added that 15 ex-prisoners with convictions for "politically inspired violence" already work for the association.

He said there were former prisoners on both side of the community in Northern Ireland who held such licences.

The lawyer said that Mr de Juana Chaos would rather suffer death than be extradited back to Spain.

"If he is returned there he will go on hunger strike," the barrister said.

"He's not someone still full of vim and vigour for any type of armed conflict. He's completely exhausted and wants to get on with his life."

But a lawyer for the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency argued that a failure to disclose convictions on the application was an attempt to mislead the department.

The status of the Basque Separatist group ETA's ceasefire was also questioned, with the court told of further bombings and attacks on Spanish police within the last two years.

District Judge Ken Nixon said Mr de Juana Chaos' own legal representatives had accepted he faced "a potentially insurmountable hurdle".

Mr Nixon pointed out the applicant was only released from prison on 1 August, 2008 "in the context of very serious offences... no matter what the theatre may be".

BTD

This article was taken from the bbc website

First formal of the year!

I had for gotten about school formals and just how drunk they get.

Well i picked up my first formal patrons of the season outside Mono in Belfast where they had just finished there after formal party.

The evening dress suits worn by the fellas did its usual trick off making lads in there late teens look about 12 years old, where as the gowns and make up worn by the girls made them look in there early 20s.
This makes it look so wrong when they kiss kinda looks like a teenage girl eating the face off her prepubescent younger brother (enough to make u cringe).

I picked up three you ladies who must be said looked a little worse for where but mostly intact.

They where friendly bunch talking about their night still on a buzz from the amazing time they had or possibly the alcohol who am i to judge?

They tried the normal game of lets embarrass the Taxi driver! a game which i have plenty of practice at and rarely lose.
Then one of them who was only slurring her words a little got a phone call and started to argue with the person on the other end as to who owned what she insisted was her beaver!

I try not to pay much but can only assume that she ether got one as a pet and someone is trying to blackmail her for access or she sponsors one in the wild somewhere and the mystery person has stolen the adoption certificate.

After a few minutes negotiation the person on the side of the phone gave up and they all went back to yelling out the windows to anyone who would listen
Although they got quite quiet and a smidge more dignified as we arrived at their house!

btd

St Valentines

St Valentines

"St Valentines night is always busy night so come out and stay late"
This was the message on my data head sent by the power that be at my depot.

All i can say in response is lies all lies, its all lies that's because i was daft enough to believe it and it cost me a night in with my beloved.

I should have known that it would not be any busyer than any other Sunday in fact it was the opposite due to suckers like me coming out on a shift we don't normally work making it worse for the guys who normally do this shift.

It should have twigged that a similar message gets sent anytime there is an event of any kind.

The reason being the desk staff or depot owners want to cope with any rush that may happen but normally doesn't and didnt last night.
(Desk staff panic if customers waiting for 10 minuites, most will wait happily if you tell them the truth and not tell them straight way!)

So i think from now on i will be sticking to my normal shifts and ignoring any further messages from the powers that be to come out as it will be busy.
Maybe take mrstaxidriver out instead.

Childish but made me smile!

i know its childish but itmade me laugh

so i stole it from
elles blog

All i got is a £20

What a frustrating night last night was.

By 10 pm i was fretting, by 11pm i was getting a little upset but by half past midnight i was raging.

I never thought i would be complaining about people handing me £20 notes! after all they one of my favourite things in the world after £50 and £100 notes.

But why do people insist in paying for a short journey where the fare is £3 with a twenty?

I know sometimes it just happens that way.

I expect this to happen and have adjusted my float but last night out of all the fares i covered (before being forced to concede defeat and go home) all but 2 gave me a £20 for a fare less than a fiver un fucking real.

The Depot i work for insists that you have enough of a float to provide change of a £20 and take a dim view if you ask the punter if he has anything smaller.

So have ended up with a six pack of coke cola where each tin was bought individually so i could get change for the next person to give me another £20.

Suppose i will have to put last night down a freak occurrence as its the first time i have been emptied of all my notes and change.

So I'm off to the bank to restock my float before Mrstaxidriver thinks all those 20s where profit.

BTD

Up the Gooners

For the love of God and all thats holy let us beat the liverpool scum.
Cause God love us its about time we beat someone.

What not to do in a Taxi.

At the risk of sounding like a right grumpy ould shite i thought i would put together a short list of what not to do in the back of a cab.

1. DON'T SMOKE IN THE CAB,
This one i a bit obvious i know but you would be surprised the number of sneaky gits who try even though they know its illegal but try any how. If your caught its a £50 fine for you and £2000 fine for me.

2. NO EATING,
I know this can sound petty but it does make an awful mess of the seats and makes the cab smell for the next punters. (Plus being a fat lad if the cab stinks of take away the next punters assume it was me who stunk the place out). Ether eat up before getting in i will wait or save it till i get you home.

3. Try not to be Sick!!
If I'm picking you u to go to the doctors or hospital and your under 10 i will cut you some slack on this one as you don't really know better, but if your just so pissed that you just cant keep the contents of you guts where it should be at least warn me your about to chuck your ring so i can pull over. That way you can decorate the pavement and not the inside of the motor thus avoiding upsetting me and you paying vast amounts of money to get the cab cleaned .

4. NO GLASS BOTTLES,
The reason for this one is simple i have never heard of anyone being tinned but i have heard of folks getting bottled.

5. NO FLASHING,
By which i mean don't use the flash on you mobile phone camera, two reasons 1 at night while driving a sudden blinding light from behind can scare the shit out of the driver and worse case cause him to crash, 2 Those flashes look very like the flash on road traffic cameras and will scare the driver into thinking he has another 3 point on his licence.

6. Don't bring me in on your arguments,
I will only take the side of whoever is paying or supporting Arsenal.

7. NO SNOGGING,
The reason for this is it distracting even though i will try to ignore you all the slurping and smacking and other noises are hard to ignore besides would you do the same thing on a bus or train. Have a wee bit of decorum no one mind a long kiss goodbye but there no need to try to eat you girlfriends face.

8, NO TOUCHING,
Me that is. I like many balding men have my head shaved for some reason some lady's think that its ok to reach around the headrest and rub my head ether to try to embarrass me in front of there mates or just cause the like how it feels! Its not that i don't like it but it puts me off my driving and lets face it if i reached over and touched you without permission its called sexual assault!

BTD

Top ten pubs in Belfast

This list is the top ten Belfast Pubs as dropped of by Belfasttaxi
Theres no accounting for taste!!

1 Lavery's (would love to know why its so popular again.)

2 The Botanic Inn (ever popular student haunt)

3 The Duke of York

4 The John Hewitt

5 The Cloth ear

6 Murials (not sure if strictly a pub but what the hell)

7 The Spanaird

8 The kitchen bar (handy dropping point for Victoria Sq)

9 McHugh'S

10 Whites Tavern

btd

Trip to Wolfes

On Friday evening myself, Mrstaxidriver and Jr went to Wolfes gourmet burgers on the old
Dundonald rd almost opposite the ice bowl beside the omniplex cinema.

I had lifted a few customers from here in the cab and had heard good reports each time.
Now when i go out to eat i would not normally go out for a burger but tonight was Jr's choice i think he spotted it on one of his trips to the cinema!

i had to work that night so we arrived about 5.30 and the restaurant was still fairly quiet but any night i have picked up here its been crawling with punters.

We where seated quickly ordered drinks and where left to peruse the menu, The menu was very short on starters with only two on offer chicken strips or mushrooms being your only choices.
This was the opposite of there burger selection which was massive with 18 different beef burgers,18 chicken burgers and various lamb and vegetarian burgers on offer so it took a while to choose.

I when for the Parisian (brie,bacon and caramelized onion), Mrstaxidriver had the Ringo (mozzarella,cheddar and fried onion rings) and Jr plopped for a chicken burger and skinny frys.


Jr really liked his chicken burger and chips and was silent for at least 20 minutes which is a long time for such a chatterbox but a sure sign that hes enjoy what he eating.

Mrstaxidriver like her choice but after tasting mine wished she had been more adventurous and mine was without a doubt the GREATEST CHEESE BURGER I HAVE EVER TASTED it was absolutely delicious and left me wanting another one, the chunky chips where also good.

Mrstaxidriver and the wee lad decided to have a desert and went for the hot chocolate with ice cream,i skipped desert as had i eaten more i would never make it out to work.

The dessert was perhaps the one disappointment it consisted of a chocolate muffin shoved in the microwave and served with some ice cream not worth the £4.50 they where charging.

So all in not a bad meal i would return but probably just for the main course.

btd

So very very tired

I cant sleep!

I cant sleep at night anymore and its driving me round the bend.

Now i know that falling asleep when working nights ain't a good thing but to be truthful it does happen mostly about 4 to 5 am when things are at a bit of a lull its not unknown for a driver to grab some shut eye.

But my problem is much more simple i cant sleep at night when i am off work even if i have stayed awake right through the previous night so i am up 36 to 40 hours.
Then of course i spend the majority of my day off dozing every half hour or so.

This is a recent dilemma as up until about 6 months ago i could drift off to the land of nod pretty much at will.
Lately i will be tired but not sleepy with mean i ether sit downstairs on my lonesome bored stupid, cos lets face it late night TV isn't known for it quality or reading in bed keeping my beloved Mrstaxidriver awake making grumpy as well.

Suppose i will have figure something out, anyone who's had similar problems i am open to advice!

Night Night
btd

The Texan
A Texan, while visiting Belfast, found himself in the back seat of a taxi cab on the way to his hotel.
Passing by the Europa the Texan asked the cab driver "What's that building there?" "That's the Europa hotel" replied the cabbie "

The Europa? How long did it take to build that?" asked the Texan.
"About 6 years" replied the cabbie.

"6 years? We build 'em twice as high, twice as wide and four times as long down in Texas, and we do that in six months."

A while later the cab driver makes his was past the Jurys inn
.
"What's that building over there?" asked the Texan
.
"That's the Jurys inn another hotel" replied the cabbie
"
How long'd it take to build that?" asked the Texan.

"About three years" replied the cabbie.

"Three years? We build 'em twice as high, three times as long and four times as wide as that down in Texas, and it only takes us about two weeks."

Shortly thereafter the cabbie drives past the City hall
.
"What's that building there?" asks the Texan
. "Damned if I know" replied the cabbie, "It wasn't here when I drove by yesterday."

Radio Blah Blah!

I have been thinking about investing in a D.A.B radio for my taxi.
Hopefully this would provide me with a greater range of stations and help with the boredom.

I am just about sick to death with the local stations we receive such as Cool Fm, Citybeat and Downtown radio as these stations play the same music again and again on what seems an endless loop and it not always the best music to boot!

I mean on a Saturday night there is only so much 80s and Abba one man can take without losing the will to live.

National stations on Fm can be just as bad at night transforming from playing a good mix of music to there specialist programs like Tim Westwood a 50 year old white man acting like a 13 year old black kid.

Despite my whining i like most music from gospel to metal although i do draw the line at country and irish, (not country like Johnny Cash and Dollly Parton or traditional Irish music which can be quite beautiful but country and irish = Daniel O'Donnell and Hugo Duncan)

As i continue to work nights i find i am tending to listen more and more to talk radio like 5 Live i find them much easier on the ear as i head into hour number 11 an shift, i really enjoy Up all night which starts at 1am as it has movie reviews and football phone ins and other taxi drivers!!
The Gabby Cabby

So what do you think Is it worth me spending the money to get myself a D.A.B Radio?

Btd

Its been a while

Hello again,

I know i ain't posted for while now, but i have been kept busy and truth be told i ether didn't have time or just plain forgot.

So i am going to make a bit of an effort!

I am still trying to get back to full health after last years skin falling of thing the fall out of which is i have gained a lot of weight ( i was already very big to start with) and my asthma is now much worse probably due to lack of exercise which i have trouble doing due to swollen leg and being very fat now over 30 stone weight!

So i guess its time i started to diet and tried to get in shape as i cant put up with things the way they are, i will keep you all updated.

Mrstaxidriver is no longer working as she was involved in a R.T.A and is still suffering with pains from the accident.

But apart from all that thing are fine!! lol

btd