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A North East restaurateur is hoping to encourage the region's students to eat healthy curries to stay on top of their studies.

Ahmed Bashir, owner of Naz Indian Restaurant in Sunderland, is known for his traditional Punjabi cuisine, which uses a wide range of fresh vegetables and spices.

A diet of fresh curry can be a great way to refuel the body and improve concentration while studying, he claims.

In fact the nutritional value of curry was recently highlighted by army defence chiefs who have included the dishes in their operational ration packs that are provided to troops in the field.

Mr Bashir says: "The start of the new academic year can be expensive for students with many social events taking place so they need to have cheap and easy recipes at hand. It is important that students don't forget to eat well as this can affect the brain's capabilities.

"My son is in his third year of study at Sunderland University and I have helped him cook for himself with some easy recipes.

"Curry can be easy and affordable for novice student cooks to make themselves. We are giving hundreds of this year's freshers at Sunderland University our Naz Curry Club membership cards, which will allow them to come along to our regular events and learn more about easy Indian recipes."

Naz Indian Restaurant has just launched the region's first `Curry Club' and is offering free membership to local students. Members benefit from a 10% discount at the restaurant along with events at the restaurant and tips on cooking Indian cuisine.

Do you have news to contribute to our food and drink section? Are you about to open a restaurant or bar? Have you any special menus coming up? Have you recently changed the menu? We want to hear from you. What's On has the best-read eating and drinking page in the region, and we want to keep our readers up-to-date. Simply email gordon.barr@ ncjmedia.co.uk or write to Gordon Barr, Evening Chronicle, Groat Market, Newcastle NE1 1ED.