Buffalo mozarella is well-known to pizza enthusiasts, but what about buffalo steaks – or even burgers? Mimo Rimoli’s restaurant Fratelli La Bufala has them all, writes Dan Carrier

THE Italians are renowned for their passion for food. The traditional trattoria has along had a place in the average British high street – Italian cafes have a long history in England, and Italian restaurants have always been palatable to the English stomach – it has always had a very Anglo twist to it.
But in South End Green a new restaurant has opened that brings Italy to London in a way that has not been seen before.
Mimo Rimoli (pictured) is a Neopolitan who married a girl from Surrey, he spent much of his time commuting from the home counties to his home town, where he helped with his family’s many businesses.
But with a young family of his own to spend time with, the monthly trips to and fro lead him to think about turning his skills elsewhere, and so he decided to set up a branch of his family’s restaurant business, which was originally set up by his cousins.
Known as the Fratelli la Bufala, it is established across Italy – they boast more than 20 branches, with their Roman flagship seating 300 people.
They run a pizza school in Naples, where chefs come to learn the secrets of dough, sauces and toppings and have become a byword for quality.
It means they take food seriously. Antonio the chef is a fourth generation pizza cook – and his oven was built by Nepalese brick workers who flew in just to do the job. So secretive are they of their trade, they told the rest of the staff to hop it for a week while they created the huge, pot-bellied, wood-fired oven. They didn’t want the secrets of their trade to be revealed.
As Mimo explains, the company is not just any other Italian restaurant.
He said: “What makes us different is our association with Buffalo farmers in Campania. We decided to marry our culinary skills with the area’s knowledge of producing food from buffaloes – and the restaurants were born.”
Buffalo cheese and meat is good for you: it is lean. The pizzas are topped with 100 per cent Buffalo mozzarella. It matches the rest of the menu: if ricotta is used, it is buffalo ricotta. The menu is riddled with buffalo meat – wafer thin slivers of buffalo hams and salamis. Fat juicy buffalo steaks. Buffalo fillets. Buffalo burgers – with slices of smoked provola cheese – and buffalo sausages. All come with vegetables, including aromatic roast potatoes basted in olive oil infused in rosemary.
And for the vegetarian, the place offers gentle delicacies: La Millefoglie is a particularly original dish, featuring a layer of aubergine, provola cheese and basil with a tomato coulis.
Gnocchi comes with a creamy buffalo ricotta sauce and even the desserts feature buffalo products, such as cheese cake with ricotta or a ricotta and chocolate fondue. And what makes the menu stand out is the fact the food is flown in three times a week.
As Mimo jokes: “I stopped commuting to Italy, so now my food has to.”

• Fratelli la Bufala
45a South End Road, NW3
Call 020 7435 7814.