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Dave J Critchley, executive head chef at Lu Ban and proud Scouser, holds the prestigious honour of being bestowed one of the highest honours in the catering world after being appointed the first ever international Master chef apprentice in Chinese culinary arts.
In July 2020 he underwent the symbolic ritual of sharing tea with his mentor Mr Zhengxi Wu, a national level Master Chef of China, via a video-link as part of his induction, as well as receiving an official chef’s hat.
The ceremony was originally scheduled to be held in China in February 2020 but had to be postponed because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Dave is now following a path, overseen by Mr Wu, in enhancing his skills in Chinese culinary arts to reach Master Chef status from the famed Tianjin School of Cuisine.
Dave said “I admire teacher Zhengxi Wu’s outstanding achievements in the Chinese culinary arts field and grateful to be accepted as his student. I will follow his teachings to learning Chinese culinary arts and be working to the highest standards to introduce Chinese food culture and to further develop Chinese culinary arts in the UK through Lu Ban Restaurant and further afield.”
Dave has a passion for community and spends time helping local food banks, and preparing dinner boxes for children and families that need a hand.
He started LIDS (Liverpool Independent Delivered Services) at the beginning of the Covid 19 Pandemic to give a lifeline to people that couldn’t get out to shop for groceries, and those that couldn’t get what they needed, due to panic buying. Using only independent local suppliers, Dave gave local shops a platform to be able to have customers order all they needed in one place, and have it delivered in one go.
Dave won the City of Liverpool Business Award for Business Hero of the Year in 2021.
