THE health benefits of eating buffalo meat as opposed to beef have been well extolled of late, which is fine provided it tastes good too.

I got the chance to find out when I visited Fratelli La Bufala in Westbourne, pictured right, which was the first UK franchise to open its doors 12 months ago.

The restaurant was less than half full on a mid-week evening. I don’t know how busy it gets at the weekends, but we were given a lovely welcome and shown to a tall table with high stools which the children loved.

To start with we had a sharing platter called La Bufalata, which included 125g of buffalo mozzarella served with fresh seasonal vegetables that had been cooked in a slightly spicy, tomato-based traditional Neapolitan sauce.

Apparently the mozzarella is shipped in from Italy several times a week and it is, without doubt, the best I’ve ever tasted. It was exquisitely moist and full of flavour.

As portion sizes go there was enough for four – even though it was meant for two people.

So far so good, bring on the buffalo. My husband ordered the entrecote steak, I plumped for a burger, while the children opted for pizzas, which are a bit pricey but are huge.

The flour for the pizza bases also comes from Italy and they are cooked in a wood-fired oven at the front of the restaurant.

The entrecote steak, which was served with creamy mashed potato, was a revelation – perfectly tender and full of flavour, which was beautifully enhanced by the mixed berry and balsamic sauce.

My husband declared it was better than beef and I had to agree. The meat comes from Campania, around Caserta in Italy.

My burger was outstanding too and served in a sandwich of homemade pizza dough bread, fried aubergine and mozzarella.

Sadly nobody had any room for dessert which must be a first for my son, but just goes to show that we had all been well fed.