Taj The Grocer, Brighton

The ability to buy everything from hard to find spices to incense sticks at decent prices in more practical quantities (as opposed to the generic supermarket offerings) is great and certainly welcome, as is the diversity of foods and ingredients from some fascinating places. HOWEVER, as in previous comments, the staff are indifferent and the prices of fresh produce is often 50% more than greengrocer, or butcher and even more when compared to supermarkets. "Yes" the quality of some produce is great, as is this 'food to go' counter, and "Yes" you could spend plenty of time browsing the most diverse range of produce, but look carefully at the tubs of olives in the corner before you dig to deep and ask yourself what is REALLY lurking beneath that oily dark slick, on the top!

It all seams a bit expensive here. I'm used to the idea of "international supermarkets" being there to provide staples the local multi-ethnic communities, but I supposed Brighton is homogenous in it's origins so here they exist to spice up peoples lives with exotica. And exotica comes with a weighty tag.

I tried the patisseries some almond-croissant-things, I'm not sure what they were made with but it seemed to coat the roof of my mouth with something almost indescribable - but I'll give it a go .... it was as though a pair badgers had been nesting inside my mouth… almost indescribable.

In the St. James Street Taj store today, after politely pointing out that I'd been given the wrong change (I gave a £20 note; they said 10), I was subjected to a humiliating 45 minute wait stood at a middle till as I was initially told I'd "have to come back tomorrow" by the person in charge, then after much argument the till float was eventually counted (20 minutes) by another member of staff and I was told once again that I was mistaken; not even a hint of the 'benefit of the doubt'. After overhearing that the till was actually out (despite what they told me) I asked if they could check security camera footage and they said, once again, that it would take "at least until tomorrow and there's nothing we can do about that, you'll have to come back". Having insisted on waiting ( I wasn't going to be in town tomorrow), all the time being made to feel that I was somehow trying to rip off the store, with people queueing around and behind me, three of the staff eventually came to the checkout and discovered that, exactly as I'd said, I had in fact been short changed. Rather than apologise, the man who had counted the till gave me the ten pounds that was owed and said "Yeah, it's okay"! When I pointed out that he wasn't actually doing me a favour by returning my money after wasting my time and humiliating me, his exact comment, rather than an apology, was "Well it's just tough innit? That's life mate"! Sadly, that does seems to be the case more and more in my experience; the commercial world seems geared towards making the consumer feel priveleged to be a customer, even when the system wrongs them. What can you do apart from not patronise stores staffed by rude people who take their own ineptitude out on their customers?

Plonked on the end of St James Street the Taj is Brighton’s premier grocery specialising in ethnic, organic and continental foods. A wonderland of all things fresh, if you ignore the boxes of rotten and discarded tomatoes near the side door outside.

Taj is home to a vast array of exotic and more conventional fruits, as well as spices, herbs, nuts, crisps and snacks, rice and breads, although the majority of prices tend to be higher than the supermarkets, but there’s usually a fair few deals on the fruit and veg and other stock.

Anything that gives the supermarkets a run for their money is a good thing, and Taj has another larger store on Western Road.

If you’re looking for specialised spices and other ethnic foods, and gluten-free products this is the place to come, but keep an eye out for out-of-date stock and the odd mouldy piece of fruit, with so much on display there’s bound to be a few no-goers.

They’ve got a massive dodgily presented selection of olives just past the entrance, but strangely didn’t have anything to put them in except for plastic bags, which doesn’t really work. The staff are slightly clueless and unhelpful too, the girl behind the check out didn’t quite understand why I didn’t want to take home a plastic bag of marinated olives.

I bought a pineapple instead.

Roughly along the same lines as Infinity Foods, this is a 'specialist' food outlet. You'll find their larger branch along Western Road and their smaller on on the corner of St. James Street. Having lived in Kemp Town for just under a year, I frequented the smaller store and never once experienced the bad service that other Qypers have mentioned in their reviews of the Western Road branch.

Taj specialise mainly in 'world foods' and it's undoubtedly the best place to stock up on your herbs and spices (which you can buy in bulk for fairly cheap). They have some fairly good fruit and veg offers that change regularly (so worth keeping an eye on) as well as offers on some more unusual products that you may not normally try.

Although they stock a range of gluten-free flours and rice noodles, their gluten-free pasta is rather overpriced and their wheat-free bread is made with rye flour (which is no use to those with an intolerance to all gluten).

The Taj along Western Road does have a lot more to offer than it's smaller counterpart, with a deli selling freshly prepared curries and a meat counter. I must admit, I've never been tempted to buy meat from there (it's always seemed a tad overpriced for what it is), but their deli counter is definitely worth a taste. A word of warning though – the olive counter in the St. James Street store (right by the wide open entrance) does seem rather like a health hazard.

In summary: great for the more unusual items, particularly Asian cuisine, but not so good for fresher produce.

I have shopped in Taj a few times and it always has plenty of common and less usual fruit and vegetables, it also includes a fresh meat counter and deli counter for products such as hummous. On the downside products tend to be quite expensive and there are rarely any irresistable promotions. I have also had bad customer service experiences on a number of occasions.

A fantastic array of mainly organic food. You are greeted by mounds of fresh fruit, then onto a feast of fresh exotic veg.
Row after row of food from around the world so that you are totally spoilt for choice.

We are so fortunate to have this shop instead of some clone town supermarket. It also compliments the other independent shops in the area.