An award-winning restaurant is creating a stir with its new delicacy – locally-caught sand eels.

Ode, in Shaldon, South Devon, is featuring the small slender fish caught in the Teign Estuary on its summer menus.

Sand eels are used by fisherman as bait while the rest are packed up and sent to London, featuring in some of the capital's finest restaurants.

However, the small upmarket eaterie in Shaldon is getting in on the act by serving the food on its doorstep.

Sand eels are caught along the sand spit in Teignmouth, after they follow dredgers into the estuary. Most are collected in boxes by fishermen, who use them as bait, while the rest are carted off to the country's capital to be served on fine dining menus.

Tim Bouget, Ode's head chef and owner, said: "This year we have really focused on local seafood and we have been trying something new every month — we have already created menus from Teign mussels, cockles and whelks.

"My assistant chef Dan Edge, who is from Teignmouth, came up with the idea of featuring sand eels. It's a classic example of bait to plate. Very few places other than us actually put sand eels on their menus. Whether that is because they do not know about them or are slightly scared of them, I don't know — but they have caused a bit of a stir."

The eels are brought into Ode alive and are killed humanely. Tim's team then soak them in milk before gently frying them and serving them coated in a Japanese breadcrumb mix and either an Asian dip or a continental style tartare sauce.