Six local restaurants feature in the latest series of the TV show
There was a lorra, lorra lobster on the latest episode of Come Dine With Me: The Professionals, as three of Liverpool’s top restaurants battled it out on the hit Channel 4 cooking competition.
We went into the competition to showcase Liverpool as a brilliant place for visitors.
For the first time in the history of Come Dine With Me, it’s professional chefs who are getting hot and bothered in the kitchen - and the dining room. The new series celebrates the variety of restaurants and the characters who work in them across the UK, with this series heading to Glasgow, Cardiff, Newcastle, Nottingham, Bristol, Leeds, Liverpool, Birmingham, London and Manchester.
In each episode, three local restaurant duos go head to head as they take it in turns to host the others for a three course dinner and prove they’ve got what it takes to win the £1,000 prize. At the end of each meal, the visiting restaurant pairs will score their host’s dinner out of 20, with the highest scorers overall scooping the prize.
Liverpool got its first professional appearance on the TV show this week as episode seven featured Lu Ban Restaurant in Cains Brewery Village, Italian Club Fish on Bold Street, and Crosby’s Seafood Kitchen.
Italian Club Fish kicked off the competition with married couple Rosaria and Maurizio providing their guests with a proper Italian night out and a menu of pan-fried Scottish scallops and burrata, home-made spaghetti with lobster, and warm chocolate cake.
Next up was Crosby Seafood Kitchen’s Vicky and Ashleigh, who wowed with yet more scallops, a seafood platter “fruits de mer” main course, and chocolate fondant. In what was probably our favourite scene of the whole show, Lu Ban’s front of house guru Dimitri revealed that he had never tried salmon before. What now?
Day three was the turn of Lu Ban’s executive head chef Dave Critchley. Cooking up a storm at the Chef’s Table, Dave (aka Slim Davy) served a menu of Tianjin-inspired dishes, starting with a traditional Chinese Yin and Yang hot and sour soup, a main of Szechuan grilled lobster, followed by the signature cherry blossom dessert.
While the group were enthralled by Dave’s tales of China and the hot and sour soup blew Rosaria’s mind, it was also the third night of lobster. As the Chinese lion dance brought the evening and the competition to a close, the winners of the £1,000 cash prize were announced. No spoilers here, thank you. You can watch the full episode on All 4.
Dave Critchley said, “We went into the competition to showcase Liverpool as a brilliant place for visitors, to highlight independent restaurants and our stunning restaurant.
“Congratulations to Italian Club Fish and Seafood Kitchen, they did themselves and the city proud. We're very happy that we got to showcase great Chinese food and entertainment, plus we managed to have a lot of fun along the way”.
The next Liverpool episode of Come Dine With Me: The Professionals on Friday 15 July will see James and Lisa from tapas restaurant Harrington’s kick off the competition. Andres and Dave from Esto Es Espana on Hope Street are second to host and finally it’s the turn of Jisha and Sabuji from Kerala Kitchen in Upton.
To give guests a chance to be part of the TV experience, Lu Ban has launched its Come Dine With Me menu at the restaurant which is available for pre-booking on Thursdays and Fridays at £49.50 per person at Lu Ban Restaurant.
Read next: Liverpool's tallest hotel is now open in Paddington Village
Read again: Liverpool's top dining deals: July 2022
Get the latest news to your inbox
Get the latest food & drink news and exclusive offers by email by signing up to our mailing list. This is one of the ways that Confidentials remains free to our readers and by signing up you help support our high quality, impartial and knowledgable writers. Thank you!
