Year 11 Food Technology students brought a slice of Latin America to Manchester Academy this week when they set up a makeshift Mexican restaurant.

The lunchtime event was staged for teaching staff to sample their cooking skills, after they had spent a busy morning preparing a range of delicacies for their GCSE exam.

Najma Abdullahi, Iman Achaiba, Sidra Ahmed, Daud Butt, Mwamba Lesa, Madina Hussein Abdi, Roxana Stanescu and Lameer Al-Fifi all took part in the exam, which was led by Mrs McMullen, Interim Vice Principal and Ms Hawthorne, Food Technology Technician.

Iman Achaiba was Team Leader and Head Chef for the event, with Daud Butt taking the role of Sous Chef.

They spent a busy morning making chicken and vegetable quesadillas, prawn empanadas, corn on the cob, chilli con carne and rice, chicken and vegetable tacos along with a selection of desserts – chocolate chilli cake, walnut cake, plum and fragipane filo pastry and coffee crunch cake.

Teaching staff including Executive Headteacher Frank McCarron were invited to come along to the ‘Juan Direction Restaurant’ to eat a three course lunch.

The students split into two teams to serve the food with Daud Butt as Head Waiter, and Lameer Al-Fifi, Najma Abdullahi, Sidra Ahmed waiting on tables, with the rest of the group getting everything ready in the kitchen.

Mrs McMullen said: “It’s been a real success and the students have worked very well as a team. A lot of the staff have said the food was delicious so that’s great to hear.”

Another team will create a Caribbean menu next Tuesday which will count towards 30% of their GCSE exam.