Courtesan (Brixton)

• I found Flatmate Maggie in Craft Beer Co and we wandered over to The Courtesan for an evening of cocktails and dim sum with the owner Hammant Patel Villa
• The courtesans that Hammant is referring to here are the ancient Chinese ladies of the court who often had the ear of the Emperor or equivalent power
• It was actually those that stared at them and sought their company who were in fact trapped
• A picture of one troubled courtesan is centre stage
• Flowers are put to shame) is one of four great beauties from ancient Chinese history who make it on to the cocktail menu
• The other three are Wang Zhaojun (birds fall from heaven)
• My superb Courtier (made with two whiskies
• They have a 5am license here but that is saved for special occasions I hope I get a call when they have a lock in here as the atmosphere downstairs would be fantastic
• Deep fried squid (perfect with chilli oil) and special vegetable spring rolls (more interesting than they sound
• Deep Fried Soft Shell Crab and Chocolate Spank (no idea) are among the many things on my wishlist for next time
• Hammant was eager for one of us to finish with a Courtesan's Ghost (Wyborowa Vodka
• This cocktail is always presented to guests on their birthday at The Courtesan with a slightly spooky message life is fleeting
• So appreciate and embrace your life whilst you are still living
• Hammant's passion for The Courtesan was infectious
• Both the drinks and food are reasonably priced (you will want both) and the atmosphere is hard to beat
• I would head straight to the tables which have been raised to bar level so that you can have space to eat your food but still chat to the bar staff whilst they are mixing you up something special
• The Courtesan is a fantastic alternative to the overcrowded Brixton Village at the weekends
• The Courtesan is in the heart of Brixton
• I found some of the dishes we ordered were not hugely well thought out
• Beef dimsum with so much dimsum that's been soaked in beef stew that
• Over all not hugely satisfied with the whole experience
• By late afternoon we were the only ones left
• So even when the place is not huge but there is a spacious feeling in the dining room
• I thought the toilet was more charming than their dining room
• Their wash basin was quite a statement and I love those toilet rolls holders
• Pairing cocktails with dim sum seems more like a gimmicky place to woo those who are more concerned with trend and style
• Sure enough the drinks menu was a long list of cocktails and other non alcoholic beverages
• Dishes like deep fried soft shell crab and mango chicken (which we did order as well) were almost certainly crowd pleasers and a safe choice for the Western palate
• As dim sum is concerned there is no order in which dish comes first
• True it has quite a comfortable environment but they would have to rival with the other exquisite food in Brixton Market
• There was not much chicken and the sauce/rice was not enough and bland
• Impressive but whatever it was trying to be
• It sounds interesting but I think that they could not decide to keep it fried or have it in a gravy because it was a shame for a crispy fried pastry to be put through a sauce that made is soggy
• The pastry is very similar to my local dim sum place
• Crispy deep fried chicken in sweet chilli sauce with mango shreds
• Would have appreciated more if the sauce was not from a bottle
• The tiramisu itself was also a little runny and the ginger element to it tasted like gingernut biscuit
• The red bean was not too sweet
• I enjoyed this very much but found that their black sesame filling was a little too oily and much too runny
• The interior was made to look like the inside of a traditional Chinese house (or something along those lines
• I'm not quite sure that I was a fan of the haunting painting of a woman's face on the wall
• Really there was no need for it
• Even after a couple of hours there were only three tables filled
• We decided to play it safe and ordered the typical dishes that we were familiar with
• The pork and prawn dumplings were pretty decent
• The xiao long bao was unfortunately slightly flimsy and broke each time we tried to pick one up
• The king prawn with beancurd cheung fun was quite tasty
• Really the 'nest' was not as 'refined' and delicate as we thought they would be more like a prawn ball with and outer coating of deep fried flat noodles
• A bit clumsy to be eaten with chopsticks
• We didn't really order much after that as the dishes that we had so far were pretty average
• The waitress who served us that day was really lovely though and food was served quite efficiently
• Certainly not special but the service was on both occasions very ordinary
• We turned up about 9 on a Wednesday and it there were enough people to make it feel busy but not packed
• I= It's an odd place the Chinese courtesan theme is apparent but not ridiculous (Bubba Gump springs to mind as an example of a ridiculous theme and it's nowhere near approaching those depths)
• The focus of the larger room is a courtesan's portrait
• We started with Czech beers I was hot and thristy and it went down a treat
• Szechaun ribs were spicy with lots of meat on them
• Wonton soup was heavenly rich
• Flavoursome broth with meaty pork dumplings
• Chilli and spinach steamed dumplings were good but not enough chilli
• Xiao long bao with lamb were delicious
• Only negative with those was a couple of them broke as we picked them up so the lovely liquid was unfortunatley lost
• The decor and theme is brilliant but not too loud and the staff are super friendly
• It could be a really great restaurant if it was cheaper and if the staff were better
• The staff are really rude and the food is overpriced
• When you live in a city as diverse as London you soon learn that there is a list of pulsating

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