The region's first Chinese and Japanese restaurant has opened complete with a sushi conveyor belt.

The Tai Pan in Newcastle's Thornton Street is the first restaurant in the region to offer its customers cuisine from the two Far East countries.

And with room for 500, and opened at a cost of £1m, it aims to create a true reflection of what happens when East meets West.

Life-size terracotta warrior statues imported from China are on show alongside Chinese lettered scrolls and plasma television screens.

Diners are also able to sample sushi from a revolving conveyor belt, in a design concept previously seen only in London and New York.