With the cost-of-living crisis ongoing we’re having to think even more carefully about where we spend our dosh.

If you like eating out, but are beginning to feel the squeeze on your budget, you might want to try something a bit different.

And I have a suggestion. Somewhere that’s close to Ipswich town centre, modern, welcoming, and (most of all) serving up cracking food – including a three-course steak supper for under £15.

That place is Chefs’ Whites. Based within the Suffolk Centre for Culinary Arts on the first floor of Suffolk New College, the fully functioning restaurant is open to the public on weekdays, offering a menu that holds its own amongst its peers in the town.

Besides its unusual location (which shouldn’t put you off!) the other thing that makes Chefs’ Whites unique is the fact every plate of food has been designed, cooked and served by hospitality students.

At a time when restaurants, pubs and cafes are struggling to fill jobs, places like this are even more intrinsically important. By supporting Chefs’ Whites, and other enterprises like it, we are all fostering the next generation in catering.

The restaurant has just re-launched. Since joining the college, respected lecturer and industry expert Mike Mulvihill (director of service industries) has been itching to get his hands on the dining space. And he and the team have transformed it into a bright, contemporary establishment that feels a million miles away from the ‘college canteen’ some might expect.

“One end is our bistro, open from 10am for breakfast and pastries,” Mike explains. “Then we go straight into lunch, doing small plates. The other side is our grill room which we’re using for our more restaurant-style service. For customers who have time to come in for a three-course meal and a nice glass of wine.”

Something that makes Chefs’ Whites stand out, besides its swanky new look, is the provenance of ingredients students have to work with – they are rearing, growing, butchering and picking their own produce in conjunction with Suffolk Rural, which is also part of the college fold.

“Working with the farm manager Patrick over there, we’ve got about 30 Red Poll cattle, Black Spot pigs, lambs and chickens,” says Mike. “We take the students out to the farm to see how the animals are being looked after...then we bring the animals back here to butcher. We’re one of the few colleges today who can offer that and truly say we’ve followed the rearing and husbandry of the animals from the farm to the plate.

“Our students are picking up so much knowledge. They’ve also got two polytunnels of vegetables. And microherbs. Our chefs all love microherbs!”

Mike wants to dispel the myth that college-based restaurants are unapproachable. “Don’t think of this as a college. It’s a town centre restaurant that just happens to be in a college building,” he reiterates. “We want to be part of the town, whether that’s people coming in for breakfast, or joining us for dinner. We are so keen to be a part of the community. And we have a hell of a lot to offer – at a very reasonable price!”

Visiting for the launch, I was impressed by what had been achieved in the restaurant, where comfy upholstered bucket seats, twinkling fairy lights and smart pendant lighting created a nice ambiance.

We kicked off with a cocktail (all £7 and changing seasonally). Our Cranberry Sling of local Ivy’s Gin, cranberry, lime, rosemary syrup and soda was refreshing, and a nod to us sliding from summer into the cooler autumn months. It's worth noting wine and beer is very keenly priced – just a few pounds for a glass of vino.

Friendly and confident front of house students led the service with their lecturer, ensuring water was topped up, debris was wiped away from the tables (usually my side) and that each plate was explained.

In the kitchen (you can see them cooking via a TV in the dining room) the catering students were cool and collected as they pulled together a tasting menu.

To begin, warm handmade rolls with whipped, flavoured butter, and a tender spoonful of steak tartare seasoned with lime and chilli in a blue corn taco.

Our starter was perfectly al dente pasta parcels filled with butternut squash, served with onion petals, pickled kohlrabi and a consomme - poured at the table. It was overall a little sweet for me, and would have benefitted from a whack of blue cheese or big twist of black pepper, but that pasta was very well made.

Just-cooked turbot was next, with a buttery sauce, salty sea vegetables and pops of caviar.

Followed by the college’s own lamb, stuffed in a Wellington of the crispest pastry, with an unctuously thick lamb sauce, feathery layered lamb fat potato slice, dense, sticky lamb faggot, and spiced carrot puree. It wouldn’t have been out of place in many of Suffolk’s top restaurants.

We rounded off with a chewy-centered meringue and a medley of apple and blackcurrant textures, and a plate of the students’ petit fours.

I don’t think I’d hesitate to go back – especially considering the value for money.

Brunch, from 10am to 12noon includes a full English for £5.50 (sausage, compressed belly bacon, roasted tomato, field mushroom, hash brown, beans and egg), pastries, and French toast with caramelised blueberries and syrup (£3).

Lunch small plates, from 12noon, are all £4 or less (from charred baby leeks with crispy egg and dukkah, to smoked mackerel pate with pickled fennel, red grapes and focaccia).

And dining in the grill, open for lunch and for dinner from 6pm to 7.15pm (ideal pre-theatre or cinema), rounds up at about £15 for three courses. That could include ham hock bon bons with celeriac remoulade and gherkin ketchup, flat iron steak with Parmesan and truffle chips, and ginger crème brulee.

Additionally, there are special events every Thursday. The next, October 20, is a tasting menu taking diners around the regional cuisine of Italy. Other dates for the diary include a night with Chris Lee (January 12), A Taste of France (January 19) and a beer and food pairing evening with Three Wise Monkeys on February 23.

Find out more and see menus at the Chefs’ Whites Restaurant Facebook page. To book call 01473 382500 or email chefswhites@suffolk.ac.uk