The day dawned with a covering of frost, but the sun worked her magic and won the battle of the day. My Toyboy arrived on time, if anything he was a few minutes early. We are both good time keepers so that was not a problem. I had made several suggestions for multi-story parking, but lo and behold he found a ground level car park right on the corner of Arthur Street! How lucky can you get? Last time I was that direction it was a building.
So on to the Restaurant. We chose Café Vaudeville. I remember the days when it was headquarters for the First Trust Bank. The website tells us
Cafe Vaudeville is located in Belfast’s Arthur Street it’s most recent alter ego was as a Bank but prior to this back in 1825 it was the headquarters of Dunville & Co. Originally engaged in a variety of merchant trading operations, Dunville abandoned his tea businees to make room for the growing demands for whiskey.In time Dunville & Co became the region’s premier whiskey distillery exporting throughout the world.So from a former whiskey house through banking Cafe Vaudeville has transformed once again to a Luxe Bar. Once you step through our doors it’s possible to lose all sense of time, enter a world thats totally Vaudeville.
It is a listed building and tastefully decorated in Art Deco style.
The lunch menu lived up to the printed word and the food was hot, tempting and tasty. We chose well and enjoyed our food.
We caught up on the happenings of our families, moved through various friends, many that I have not seen for several years. There were a few bereavements in our circle since we last met and and we drank to the memory of those no longer with us.
It was time for dessert, and as my host said “When you are out for a meal, go the whole hog and eat dessert!” We did. At this stage we had slowly worked our way through to the here and now… what we were both up to and then of course the plans for the future. Enthusiasm oozes from every pore as he speaks of his latest projects. They are still under wraps so I am not at liberty to share. The way he spoke about ‘writing’ almost made me want…..
So late in the afternoon the prince drove me home and we sat a while longer and to top off the day he left me with a gift from his travels, a DVD to entertain me for a couple of hours and a book to read. A very special book… you will not find it on the bookshelves; YET!
Give it time!