Taj Mahal International Foods

Having always liked this shop and recommended to many friends I now will no longer be shopping here. Customer service atrocious. I’d spent a considerable amount of money stocking up my cupboards but one of the products was off. I had opened a large bag of cahews I had bought from Taj as soon as I got home and alas they were rancid. I know this is common in nuts so took them back to the shop with my receipt not expecting any problems. I had to tell three members of staff the nuts were off. I didn’t know why I had to keep repeating myself. Each member disappeared with my produce without even speaking to me before bringing back an additional member of staff. The last man I spoke to pointed to the date printed on the back to show me they were clearly in date. This was something that did not need pointing out to me and was irrelevant. He then put his hand in the bag of nuts and began to eat them. He told me he thought they were fine. They clearly had no intention of giving me my money back. I knew they were off, I knew I didn’t want them I now certainly didn’t want them now he had been eating them.
Incidentally, buying in the large quantities sold in Taj, I’d always assumed the price was good. As I am never shopping there again, I noticed even the small bags of cashews in Lidl still work out cheaper per gram/​kilo than Taj anyway. No need to buy in bulk. The produce in Lidl is fresh and the customer service is good.
Taj need to enter the 21^st Centuary in terms of customer service. It’s unacceptable to carry on like that. Treating customers with real issues like criminals. Wake up Taj. You’ve grown arrogant and I’d rather spend my money elsewhere.

I used to be a fan of the Taj when I first moved to Brighton as a student 8 years ago. It was the cheapest place to buy fruit and veg, and they have a huge selection of pick your own olives!
I went in today to see if I could get some fresh herbs and vegetables for less than what I would pay at Waitrose. Unfortunately everything in there looked really manky and about to go out of date. I’m sure I remember thinking this when I shopped there before, but being a skint uni student, it didn’t really matter at the time!
I ended up going back over the road to Waitrose and getting my fruit and veg from there. In actual fact, there was little to no difference in the price, and the veg was all fresh and clean.
I don’t think I’l be shopping at the Taj any time soon unless it’s for specific spices that I’m after, as they have a lot there at a good price.

I love all the fresh fruits and veg — makes eating much more interesting. have enjoyed the variety of sizes of herbs and nuts frozen things too.
my main concern is that the fruit juice is more expensive than the chicken. i’m not sure how that works out but i don’t think its anything good.
the have lots of tills so you tend to get served quickly even if there is a que and the staff are friendly.
there open late which is ideal if you need to go in after work! and open early too!
always enjoy looking in here and get inspired to cook something different. I don’t recommend there hot food bit far too much oil and tough meat the somasa seem ok but again i dont think its the highlight of this place.

I’ve been recently cooking some curries from scratch (get me) so I came to Taj to get some ingredients.
Was blown away by the selection of fruit and veg, all at a really good price, they had things that the supermarkets just don’t supply. You really spend hours in here, I think I did !!
I think if they don’t have it, it doesn’t exist.
Just a note to the boss, can you please get a stall in the new London Road market as it is far closer to my house? ;)

I was told that this place has some great organic veggies. So when I headed over there to check it out, I was a little disappointed w/​the selection. That said, the selection of specialty foods is pretty darn good. And the felafel sandwich I had was excellent. I was happy w/​the selection of specialty chocolates too — got some good stuff at a reasonable price. Overall I like this place, just wish that the veggie selection was a bit fresher and more varied (and a bit cheaper). Definitely had to go to another grocery store to get my veggie fix. The curries that they have there at the deli counter also look amazing, and smell amazing. I suggest giving those a try!

Yes, you can find excotic food and fresh vegetables&fruits but it’s too expensive !
Unbelievable… A normal 500ml washing-​up liquid 2£, usually it’s about 50cent.
Not competitive, go away from it.

This is the best shop for international foods, particularly halal, in Brighton. Vegetables are cheap, and not packed, as everywhere else (I find it annoying when someone makes me buy 5 apples instead of one). There are stuff of the great value (like chickpeas 3 for 1, 4 packs of pitta for £1 etc). Variety of stuff you’ve never seen before. A lot of spices, pickles, exotic vegetables, etc., Chinese section is smaller. Notice: don’t confuse yourself with organic shops, like infinity; some stuff might be organic, some fairtrade, but not all of it. Deli counter is not too good (curries are terribly greasy), but worth getting falafel and onion bhajis. As someone mentioned — if there is something you don’t know know what it is, you’ll probably find it there. :) service is so so, girls are a little bit awkward, some of them hardly speaks English, & makes loaaads of mistakes (always check the receipts!). If you respect yourself, don’t get into conversations with men! They are a real headache there

What a fantastic shop this is! I have never seen such a variety of fresh fruit and veg displayed so exquisitely. Also a wide diverse selection of ingredients to please most peoples tastes. Just mind blowing! A credit to Raj!

This is a shop I accidentally discovered earlier this month when walking past searching for a Thai supermarket in Hove. I am definitely going back again, on a day I do not have any other shopping to do in order to fill my bags. ORGANIC and INDIAN are both important to my diet and to find a shop that sells the combination of the two is marvelous. If I lived nearer, I would buy 95% of my food from this store. I did not know it was possible to buy organic brown basmati other than online, for example… WONDERFUL!

It’s great to have an independent supermarket in Brighton. They have a lot of things here that you can’t find in many other places vegan cheeses and the like, and lots of weird drinks. I’ve been working my way through them, some are pretty disgusting but it’s fun to have a go anyway.

Absolute ACE of a shop. Worth going in just for the colours and wonderful smell! Prices are comparable, probably lower, than other shops. Vast range of goods that always look fresh. It’ll do for me

Taj puts the joy back into grocery shopping, I would challenge the biggest hater of the weekly shop not to have fun in here!
Taj has the most amazing selection of fruit and veg, their vibrant colours and shapes look like a work of art, and they have many varieties that I have never come across before. They also have a great selection of fresh herbs, supplied in large bunches, a far cry from the plastic-​wrapped examples that you will find in most supermarkets.
Aside from the fresh produce, Taj also supply a huge range of dried goods that’s are difficult to find elsewhere — noodles, lentils, dried herbs and spices of every possible variety.
There is a good freezer section with such gems as spring roll wrappers etc. The meat counter supplies a selection of halal meats although I’m not entirely convinced by the quality.
If you are feeling a little lazy Taj also offers a counter providing ready prepared meals as well as snacks and nibbles such as olives.
I have always found the staff to be friendly and helpful. This is definitely the place to put the pleasure back into your food shop.

Great spot, home of awesome spices, ingredients, and everything you need for some good home cooking. This place blows all the other grocery stores away in Hove, although a bit pricey.
Great produce selection as well, with harder to find stuff, including green coconuts. Yum!

Living next door to this Alladin’s Cave of foody delight did more than anything else to move my culinary skills from «good» to «great». It’s not often you will ever find a supermarket that you enjoy spending time in, but Taj is one. The sheer variety of foodstuffs available here is staggering, and arrayed in such a way to make strolling the aisles an aesthetic pleasure.
Don’t be afraid to ask how to prepare the more exotic items: the employees are used to it.
Lovely. I just wish I lived closer to either of their stores (The other being by Old Steine).

I have not had any direct contact with the staff (except at the till) so I can’t comment on the employees of this store. However I do occasionally shop at the other Taj (which is far less impressive) and find the staff there less than friendly.
I am not sure why as I have met some incredibly nice Asian people in this town who have absolutely no problems with LGBT folk, so why some people have to look down on their customers as if they were some kind of annoyance is unclear to me. I have a large interest in Asian culture (and am even studying the Devanagari script used for Hindi and other languages) so it would be nice to know that the willingness to try to understand or at least accept other cultures is something mutual.
On the other hand this is the only place where you can get such a huge range of oriental foods. The choice is pretty amazing and I could wander around in there for ages. Luckily I have only been there with other people who have urged me on, or maybe unluckily as it means that I probably haven’t seen half the range of what they have on offer.
I would give it 5 stars if the staff were more friendly. However customer service is very important to me and while I am writing I am still struggling to give it 4 instead of 3. On further consideration I will make that 4 as the choice is fantastic and some of the female staff in their other shop have been friendly in the past, unlike their male colleagues.

I’ve got to say I much prefer this Taj to the one on the corner of St. James’ Street. It’s a fair bit bigger and has a meat counter as well as a deli that sells freshly made and incredibly tasty curries. I can never resist the offer three of their delicious onion bhaji’s for £1 quite spicy (buy a drink too!), but totally delicious. They do sell these at the other branch, but they’re hidden behind the tills and never taste quite as fresh.
The selection of fruit and veg is bigger and better here too, as is their bakery (alas, no fresh gluten-​free bread though) their excellent range of herbs and spices. I even find the staff friendlier here when I was on futile quest for dried lavender in the middle of May last week, I had the manager on the phone to other shops trying to find me some. The other branch could take some customer service tips from this one. Saying that, on the same day I was completely ignored for about 15 minutes while the guy on the deli counter chatted loudly into his mobile phone. On loudspeaker. You win some, you lose some, eh?

Taj, or the Mecca of exotic cooking ingredients, is a pretty remarkable store. It doesn’t quite replace your weekly supermarket trip, but does offer up a variety of hard-​to-​get goodies. Whether these are worth the extra couple of quid is debateable, but you can’t argue with the selection here. If Waitrose and Marks and Spencers haven’t got it, this should be your first port of call from then on.
Taj is a nice little place to grab little bits and pieces, but it is worth getting what you can get elsewhere elswhere: the prices here are even more than Waitrose! Still, nowhere else can you get some of the more exotic fruits and veg on offer here, or some of the different types of spices, breads, etc, and that’s what Taj is good for: selective shopping for things you can’t find elsewhere.
I may also go out on a limb here: it’s a badly designed store. Nothing’s easy to find, the service is poor, and the counters are all on some kind of metal plank: why on earth I can’t fathom, and it just looks and feels weird. Also, their plastic bags are rubbish. Nit-​picking: maybe, but everything else is A-​OK.

I used to love going to Taj for everything from hallumi, almond milk and kalamata olives to fresh herbs, sweet potatoes and plantain. Last summer I probably went in every other day for a bunch of vine tomatoes or a box of their amazing alfonso mangoes.
These days however, I find myself going out of my way to buy my fresh fruit, vegetables and store cupboard favourites from other neighbourhood eastern and international stores. Their produce is still great but their current customer service gets a definite thumbs down from me. The staff on the shop floor are friendly enough but the women behind the till are either cold and unhelpful or plain rude. I’ve had my groceries thrown and dropped into my bag so many times, I’ve lost count. I’ve talked to other female friends who have recieved the same thousand yard stare too and decided to stop shopping there altogether.
Ladies — how about showing some love instead of all that A.T.T.I.T.U.D.E?

More like Taj MaHELL YES.
Is this heaven inside this mausoleum-​turned chapel of deliciousness? It just might be ma’ Unilocalers, it just might be. And to clear things up, we’re talking about a grocery store here.
Filled to the brim with exotic foods and spicy spices, and spilling over with fresh fruits and veg, I spent more time than necessary admiring the organic array and lusting over the spread of imported ethnic options. Let’s just say that a picnic by the sea jumped about seven notches on the yardstick of exotic after a quick pop by Taj.
This is Trader Joe’s + Planet Organic + Fresh and Wild, all mixed in an Indian blender. The result? Taj Ma-​Amazing. I only wish the commute was a bit more convenient!

Situated opposite Waitrose on Western Road, this is an interesting supermarket, focusing on Asian cuisine, with the emphasis on natural, organic and fairly-​traded produce.
The array of exotic fresh herbs and spices is impressive, but they also do a wide range of fresh fruit and vegetables and dairy products, which are as locally sourced as possible. They also have an extensive range of special diet products — for example, gluten free, vegan and vegetarian products, and organic baby food.
Prices vary hugely, though: pittas are very good value, for example, but some other items are more expensive. But with such a wide range it is unlikely you won’t be able to find what you want.
The main downer — as others have said — is the staff, who vary from friendly to downright dismissive. The other particular gripe is the awkward queuing system, that means that on every visit, someone who has arrived later has ended up getting served before me.