Award time for top curry houses

Britain's finest curry restaurants will be honoured in London this weekend.

Despite the proliferation of restaurant awards in recent years, the nation's 9,500 curry houses have never had an event of their own.

Now the British Curry Awards, organised by the Guild of Bangladeshi Restaurateurs, will name the top restaurant in each of 10 regions.

Judges' co-ordinator Jeremy Simons said: "The curry industry has become an important part of British culture."

The style has overtaken Chinese and fish and chips as Britain's favourite takeaway.

The misnamed "Indian" restaurant industry - in fact 95 per cent are Bangladeshi - now accounts for sales of £3.2 billion and employs 60,000 people.

The awards are being presented at the Grosvenor Rooms on Sunday. Judges includes food writer Humayun Hussain and chef Tony Tobin of the TV show Ready Steady Cook. The host will be Channel 4 news presenter Krishnan Guru-Murthy.