Reviews Courtesan

Absolutely loved it. Great food and great drinks. The Espresso martini was one of the best I've had in London.

A gem! Wonderful food and atmosphere, and a great range of drinks. Well worth going South of the River for!

Went here for 1st time tonight with friends. Lovely food, great atmosphere and friendly staff. We all left with a smile and a little extra bounce in our step!

Love the food here. The quality is top notch and really worth the price! Restaurant is rather spooky but it grows on you, strangely enough. Can't wait to go back!

Great food , great atmosphere , nice staff. Definitely my new favourite Dim Sum restaurant in London

Very authentic good food, decor is traditional. Atmosphere is mellow.

brilliant place for dinner! service is very friendly and knows what they doing! food is truly amazing, mmmm.... will be definitely back as soon as possible!

Difficult to find a good dim sum place outside of central London and even more difficult to find one that serves it in the evening! This little place is a gem. The decor and theme is brilliant but not too loud and the staff are super friendly. The food is an interesting twist on the usual dim sum dishes. I recommend the puffs!

I'd been meaning to head to Courtesan for a while, with it's huge red exterior it's hard to miss on Atlantic Rd, but for some reason had never been top of the list. We turned up about 9 on a Wednesday and it there were enough people to make it feel busy but not packed. You can sit in the bar area for drinks and then there's a bigger restaurant area further back. 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). There are birdcages dotted around, and the focus of the larger room is a courtesan's portrait. It;s a funny vibe - not in a bad way, just very slightly odd. We started with Czech beers - I was hot and thristy and it went down a treat. We ordered five dishes between us and they got better and better as they arrived. Szechaun ribs were spicy with lots of meat on them, and not at all dry. Wonton soup was heavenly - rich, flavoursome broth with meaty pork dumplings, I was very close to ordering a second bowl. Crab, chilli and spinach steamed dumplings were good but not enough chilli, although the very potent chilli oil on the table helped. Xiao long bao with lamb were delicious, with soupy centres that flooded out when you put them in your mouth - again, I wanted more. Only negative with those was a couple of them broke as we picked them up so the lovely liquid was unfortunatley lost. Still good though. It all came to about £40 - not bad for a very good feed and 4 beers. Will be back!

Brixton Courtesan. Fantastic from start to finish. Glad we gave it a go

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, and were, as a result, incredibly influential. The courtesan concept runs tastefully through both the menu and the decor without it being a "themed" restaurant. Empty birdcages represent the fact that whilst the courtesans seemed to be caged, it was actually those that stared at them and sought their company who were in fact trapped. In the dining room, a picture of one troubled courtesan is centre stage, surrounded by wallpaper covered with her tears. This is one good looking place. We had the perfect view of the stunning bar area from our cosy corner table, and it was hard to put the camera away.

Hammant, who has an industrial design background, joined us shortly after we arrived, and encouraged us to get a drink so that he could start telling all the stories behind his labour of love. We duly obliged, starting with a Courtier, a Yang Yuhuan and a Treacherous Heart.

Yang Yuhuan (often known as Yang Guifei - so beautiful, 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), Xi Shi (fish forget to swim) and Diaochan (who eclipses the moon). They apparently brought kingdoms to their knees, and their lives ended in tragedy or under mysterious circumstances. My superb Courtier (made with two whiskies, chilli, fig liqueur and lapsang-souchon tea) represents the last cigar that you might be offered after being rejected in court by one of the courtesans. The Treacherous Heart doesn't need a back story, especially once you taste the thick blood red concoction made with plum wine, cognac, Sangiovese, chilli and red bean paste.

With a drink in hand, we wandered downstairs to take a look at the dark, attractive boudoir which can be privately booked. 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.

We made our way back upstairs for more cocktails and some dimsum, chosen for us to match our drinks. We were mainly here to imbibe though, so I won't go into great detail on the food front. We moved away from their house drinks temporarily, going for a Whisky Sour Sour (created in response to their Whisky Sour not being sour enough) and a Courtesan's Mojito (with St.Germain Elderflower liqueur). They use elegant glassware here, and I particularly liked their enormous coppa style glasses.

All sorts of food turned up and disappeared equally quickly. We had their house prawn crackers (simple but delicious), taro croquettes (a masterclass in frying), mushroom & duck puffs (a welcome change from the traditional pork filling), pickled vegetables (Hammant's nod to home cooking), Szechuan style ribs (messy but worth it), deep fried squid (perfect with chilli oil) and special vegetable spring rolls (more interesting than they sound!). We will need to return for a full dinner soon to put the rest of the menu to the test - Stormy Seaweed, Wagyu & Ribeye Sliders, Deep Fried Soft Shell Crab and Chocolate Spank (no idea) are among the many things on my wishlist for next time.

It is rare to have such high-quality dimsum outside of Central London and many that come here may think that it is bought in, but it is all created on site by a very experienced and adventurous chef. The dim sum style of small sharing dishes originated as meals for the Royal Court where chefs would experiment to produce exciting treats for the great Emperors, "so exquisite as to touch their hearts", says Hammant.

We moved on to one final round of drinks, and Hammant was eager for one of us to finish with a Courtesan's Ghost (Wyborowa Vodka, Rose Liqueur, Lychee, Rose Peony). This cocktail is always presented to guests on their birthday at The Courtesan with a slightly spooky message - life is fleeting, and you will one day be a ghost like the courtesan who haunts this place, so appreciate and embrace your life whilst you are still living! On that note, why not head there tonight for a ghostly All Hallows Eve?

Hammant's passion for The Courtesan was infectious, and we had a wonderful time eating and drinking in his charming establishment. 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. With food available til 10.30pm and the bar open til 2am on Fridays and Saturdays, The Courtesan is a fantastic alternative to the overcrowded Brixton Village at the weekends. Book ahead by emailing courtesan@thecourtesan.co.uk - be sure to be courteous or you might find yourself having your last cigar!

We absolutely loved our visit to the courtesan. Everything was absolutely lovely. The food was all fantastic and filling, drinks were delicious, and the decor and ambiance were perfection. The staff were extremely kind and went above and beyond to exceed expectations. The entertainment was fabulous of course as the main draw! If we lived in the UK we’d come back regularly. Because we don’t, we will recommend it to everyone we can instead!

This place is really nice and we had the best time tonight. We went for their burlesque Halloween party and had dinner too. Everything was so good and fresh, cocktails very nice and the atmosphere superb. The only thing that refrained me to put the fifth star was that prices for certain dishes were a bit high for the portions received, but overall a great place. Recommended 😇

Really cool space away from the hip central Brixton village bit. Opium den vibes with the low lighting and some of the decor. Food wise, most of the menu is excellent. Been a few times and the char sui buns are always top notch. Had the ribs before which were nice and spicy. The steamed dumplings are very good: prawn and wasabi, pumpkin buns, pork and prawn dumpling and softshell crab all top notch. The jerk chicken rice I'm not too sure about unfortunately... But thr rest of the menu makes up for that. Great cocktails, decent beers, friendly staff. Can get busy so book ahead!

Hidden Gem, the outside doesnt loom all that nice that when you enter it's a different place , very cultured decor and in the evening they bring out the tea light so it sets a different tone to the place -like a date night. Dim sum was lovely enjoyed myself will definitely come back again. I took a star off because I didn't like the passion fruit drink.

Amazing night here, the compare was hilarious and hit all the right notes, Coco Belle was breathtaking, the best burlesque performer I've ever seen. Drinks were good too, not so many female owned breweries to good to try a nice one. The guy doing the music during the show (and some table service before) was quite rude, but all the other staff were lovely and attentive so can't review them any less than 5 stars! Highly recommended

The Courtesan is an incredibly special place, and the only way to know that is to go and experience it! The art, the music, the drinks and the food all create a stunning atmosphere, and you can feel the history and philosophy of the place. Their wine is all produced by women, their all-female kitchen makes both beautiful and delicious food, and all of this creates their powerful female-centred ethos. The Courtesan is centred on the power of women today by drawing from legacies of women living during Ancient Imperial China. Courtesan culture, the four great beauties, art, poetry, histories, and legacies are woven into every aspect of the bar, restaurant and burlesque. There is no place like it, you simply have to go and experience it.