Ten leading British and French chefs have deemed Welsh Black beef to have a better texture and flavour than its French counterpart.
The chefs were taking part in a tasting, organised by the Fine France subsidiary of ingredients supplier Tecfoods, held at La Chaumière restaurant in Chelsea, London.
The tasting pitted four cuts of French beef against the Welsh one, a Scottish Aberdeen Angus, an Irish fillet and Simmenthal beef from the Netherlands.
With such a strong contingent of both French meat and French tasters, it seemed likely that a Gallic beef would triumph - particularly as the chefs were told what they were tasting.
But, asked to score the meats on criteria including flavour, texture and colour, nearly all of the chefs picked the Welsh Black as their top choice, with Charolais beef coming second.
"The Welsh Black simply had a lovely texture and superb flavour," commented Orrery head chef André Garrett, winner of the 2002 Roux Scholarship.