Bona Foodie

A nice place, but customer service leaves a bit to be desired. The chap that served us looked and acted as though he wished nobody was actually in the place. Food is good, but very pricey.

I am going to give this place 2 stars, in spite of the food actually being really tasty.
I used to work nearby to Bona Foodie, and the display of food they have in the window just looks so tempting, you end up going inside to buy some…
However, the lady that works in there (I think she may be the owner) is unfortunately one of the most miserable looking, and ‘unhappy to help’ type people I have ever come across. Certainly in my experience of going there, I have found myself wondering if she actually does want any custom?
The food is tasty, if overpriced, but unfortunately the service leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

Bona Foodie is a delicatessen and café on the quirky St James Street. The tantalising display of pastries in the window always makes it hard to walk past without popping in!
On my most recent visit, we sampled a couple of quiches — feta and spinach, and cheese and broccoli. Both were really tasty and served with a yummy side salad, my only complaint would be that both suffered from soggy bottoms due to being reheated in the microwave.
They do numerous deli items here which you can take away — this time we came home with a pot of seafood salad. Hot dishes, sandwiches and cakes are also plentiful — all the food being fresh and prepared on the premises.
My chai latte was delicious, as was my partner’s coffee.
There is a decent amount of seating, I particularly love the big wooden tables at the back — great for bigger groups.
Toilets are in the garden, and do make you feel like you are peeing in a shed, but I can live with this.
Service is always friendly, our server did seem to struggle with our order this time but I’m guessing he was new so didn’t really have a problem with this.
Will definitely be back for more carbs!

This is a great wee spot that I found thanks to the help of Unilocal!:) It’s perfect for a little lunch stop-​off or to grab something on the go, or to eat at home. It’s a beautiful shop, with food stacked up in the window, drawing in the hungry passers-​by.
The place itself is small, but there are big comfy tables and chairs to fit enough people that you can still lunch as a group. I opted for the Spanish rice and it was amazing! Not the cheapest, but it was a huge portion (I only managed to eat half of it) and the flavours were great. My sister had the potato and spinach pie, which looked a little feeble when it arrived, but she said it tasted absolutely delicious, which is good.
We both had cakes for dessert! She had a treacle and ginger cake, which was incredible! Beautiful flavours, great sponge, tasty icing! Yum!!! My cheesecake brownie was unusual and perhaps not to my taste, but it was well made and large for the price of it.
There’s a cute little outdoor area for the sunnier months, walled in a little garden. Inside the décor it great — it feels very organic and vintage!
Lovely staff too! A great spot for lunch! I’d recommend it.

Bog standard fare, well overpriced.

Nice place and great food, also one of the few shops where the staff will actually take the time and trouble to talk to their customers for about half an hour. The only reason I’m not giving them five stars is because I’d like to see more wholegrain products instead of just white pastry. Change that, and I’ll give them the maximum points!

The tiffin is AMAZING! On the dear side at £1.50 but what with the size of it, it’s basically a meal.
I also recommend the £4.50 salad takeaway boxes, my fave combo being chick peas, pesto pasta, olives, sundried tomatoes, salmon quiche and salad.
One qualm: I go there all the time and find the staff are very friendly but they give no discounts for loyalty /​multiple purchases. Winced at paying £6 for 4 pieces of tiffin the other day (not all for me honest!).

As well as the continental bites that are de rigueur in delicatessens these days — anchovies, olives, sunblushed tomatoes — Bona Foodie have a fine specialism in game products. Their wild boar sausage roll with caramelised onion is a ballsier version of the original, while their game pie has deliciously dark and rich gravy, hunks of venison and rabbit, with a buttery crisp pasty top. There’s a great range of pates too, the venison with almanac pure coarse, savoury loveliness on hot buttered toast. Cheesophiles won’t be disappointed with such a fine display either. Doubling up as a café, there’re a few tables towards the back, serving homey, flavoursome lunches.

I love this shop. When ever I walk in the staff are nice and smiley and happy to point out anything new they have on offer. The food is so fresh and so creative its hard to find anything I wouldn’t want to buy in there.
The pies are excellent! Try the chicken and bacon with sweetcorn! They have some lovely flavoured olives on offer too and they sell some lovely marinated anchovy fillets.
If you’re having a nice lunch at home, pop along and stock up on some goodies from this brilliant little deli.

Bona Foodie specialise in very hearty delicious goods for lunch or dinner or just to snack out on. I often have a lasagne here as it’s the best I have had in Brighton, but they also have a delicious selection of sandwiches, salads, pies and random bits I have yet to try but surely will. The staff in this branch are extremely friendly and they have the cutest little patio out the back which is really nice to hide away in and chill out. If you need little extras for a dinner party or picnic such as crackers and cheeses, Bona Foodie is stocked to the hilt and has one of the biggest chutney ranges I have seen around.

Bona Foodie is a great shop, it’s too bad its name couldn’t match the greatness that’s contained within (but you can’t win them all). Walking in, it felt as though I was Charlie walking into Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory, except instead of chocolate, I was surrounded by pies and pastries, and instead of Willy Wonka, I was greeted by a friendly shopkeeper. But as I walked further in, perusing their selection of cakes, pies, and tarts, I came across a wonderful chocolate selection, and found that they also sold truffles. There is a load to choose from, and everything they sell is delicious. You’re able to concoct your own sandwich with the ingredients they have in stock, and have your choice to stay-​in or eat out.

Just a little bit up from the new Morrisons on St James Street sits organic and fresh sandwich bar Bona Foodie. This is a great place to get a locally sourced DIY sandwich to your taste. You can have some really interesting and tasty combinations but my favourite snack has to be the ‘Egg hog’, a vegetarian alternative to the ‘Scotch egg’ with the meat replaced with spicy lentils… they’re so good. The shop itself is quaint and stocked with a selection of homemade preserves and jams, which went down very well when I bundled them into a parental Christmas hamper recently. Breakfast is served from 9.30am until 11am and lunch throughout the day, you can also tuck yourself away in the back if you’d rather eat in.

Bona Foodie is a combo grocer-​restaurant-​deli, with tightly-​packed shelves and a deli counter near the front of the shop, and several tables near the back for those who-​eat in. The smell upon entering was deliciously spicy, and though it was mid-​afternoon, the shop bustling with patrons.
Pre-​packaged items for sale include jams and preserves, crackers, pies, hand-​filled dates (intriguing!), jelly candies, chutneys and decoratively wrapped gift sets. The deli counter was split into an impressive cheese section (perfect for all those cracker varieties) and several freshly made salads — chickpea, macaroni and coleslaw were my top picks. Oven-​ready foods like quiches, rolls and pies — including a rabbit pie with thyme — were displayed in the front window.
The atmosphere was friendly and charming — perfect for a mid-​day snack or unique gift idea.

Bona Foodie is a deli café located on St James St. Unlike some of the other Kemp Town delis it is neither poncy nor outlandishly expensive. In the window you will find a vast array of tempting homemade quiches and pies. Try one– they’re delicious. I went for a med veg quiche and it was great– flaky pastry and packed with vegetables. Out back there is a modest seating area, where you can enjoy a sandwich or a coffee. Although the name of this place is a bit cringey (perhaps that’s unfair, but I’m getting a little sick of ‘wittily’ named cafes and delis… too many play on words in one town!), I do like it as a deli– Bona Foodie have made little effort to compete with the swish décor and over the top gourmet nibbles sold by their local rivals. Don’t get me wrong I LOVE artichoke hearts, olives and sundried tomatoes, but I also like simple, honest food sold at a reasonable price! Everything in moderation I say and I think Bona Foodie have struck the perfect balance.

The place is charming and the food looks lush in their windows. I have bought stuff from there, wasn’t spectacular, but good all the same! Its nice to see a personal, local business thrive. Alot of choice and is good for lunches or picnics, just buy and go, perfect!

Great deli. Fantastic hampers, especially at Christmas.
Really great for a take away lunch or to eat in.
In summer there is a lovely yard where you can sit out surrounded by flowers.
Pies. quiches, cakes, cheeses, smoked salmon, hams, all great quality.