TRAINEE chefs at a pioneering restaurant at Virginstowe passed one of their stiffest tests yet with flying colours on Monday, at the official launch of the Academy Restaurant at Percy?s.

The four teenaged chefs have been learning their trade at the academy under the expert tutelage of Tina Bricknell-Webb, proprietor of Percy?s Country Hotel and Restaurant and one of the region?s top chefs.

And now with the lunchtime Academy Restaurant fully up and running, they will be preparing beautifully cooked local produce for the public each day.

Ross Hayward, marketing manager at Percy?s, said the launch went extremely well.

?They got a huge round of applause from the guests and they are over the moon with the good feedback,? said Ross.

?They did it all, from start to finish ? Tina just popped her head round the door a few times.

?The idea of the Academy Restaurant is it not only provides an outlet for what they are producing, it gives them good experience with the public about cooking for real, and builds up their motivation, skills and confidence. They will be serving exactly the same style of food as we do in the evening, but for considerably less money.?

He said the students had coped well with the interruptions for interviews and photos during the launch and were pleased at the reception of the guests, who included school principals and training and development specialists.

Ross said the students at the academy will shortly be joined by a further eight during the next three months.

They will all stay at Percy?s for two years, undertaking an NVQ 3 course under Tina?s watchful eye. Not only will they learn culinary skills, they will also see at first hand the value of cooking locally produced food appropriate to the season and region.

The three young chefs who cooked at this week?s launch were former Okehampton College student Andrew Lester, 16, Nessa Short, aged 18, and 15-year-old James Weller, who will join the academy full time when he is 16.

They cooked a three course meal of spinach tagliatelle with blue cheese, mushroom and fresh tarragon sauce, followed by lavender roasted home-reared lamb and finished the meal with a lemon tart, raspberries and rosemary ice-cream.

Nessa, who has wanted to be a chef since she was 12, said: ?It all went very well ? I wasn?t really nervous as we?d done the Financial Times lunches, so we?d had some practice for two weeks at the beginning of January.

?Everything went out at the right time, it all ran smoothly ? it was good.?

West Devon and Torridge MP John Burnett, who performed the official opening of the academy, congratulated Tina and Tony Bricknell-Webb on their contribution to an industry of ?growing, major importance? and wished the academy and its students well for the future.

He said: ?The key to success in the tourist industry is high standards of food, service and organisation and that is exactly what the academy is going to train these young people to achieve.?

The Academy Restaurant at Percy?s offers a two-course lunchtime meal for £20 and is open every day. Call 01409 211236.