The Taj Gallery and Patisserie that operated where Oriental Parade meets Kent Terrace will be remembered by many long-time residents. It was established by Cynthia Cass who ran it for five years.
An artist, gallery-owner, writer, farmer, cook and traveller, Cynthia's latest achievement is collating a book called We Three Go South, published by Phantom House. It is based on the 1890 diary and hilarious sketches done by Cynthia's great-aunt Ethel who, with her two sisters, visited the sub-Antarctic islands on the government steamship Hinemoa.
The exuberant sisters revelled in the adventure. Defying the sedate lifestyle expected of well-brought-up young ladies of the time, they hunted sea lions, climbed peaks, collected plants and generally had a whale of a time. It's a joy to read and to handle.
The building where the Taj Gallery and Patisserie operated were city toilets before Cynthia transformed it into something more gracious. It is now the Welsh Dragon Licensed Restaurant and Bar, said to be the only Welsh Bar in the Southern Hemisphere.
JCD, Bay View newsletter 65, May 2015