Salad bars, coffee on tap and an in-house pastry chef! Your lowdown on the law firms keeping lawyers’ rumbling tummies at bay
From eggs poached to perfection to dinner delivered to your desk (by the firm’s dedicated waiting staff, of course) — junior lawyers are well-fed at work but which firms came out on top in the ultimate food face-off?
We put the question ‘How do you rate your firm’s canteen?’ to over 2,000 trainees and junior associates at the country’s leading corporate law firms, as part of this year’s Legal Cheek survey. Respondents rated their firm canteens on a scale from one to ten — with one defined as ‘Dengest lunch’, and ten as ‘Pengest munch’.
Ten firms have been commended for their culinary delights. Here is the shortlist, listed alphabetically, for the best law firm canteen 2020:
- Addleshaw Goddard
- Ashurst
- Bird & Bird
- Burges Salmon
- Clyde & Co
- Hogan Lovells
- Kirkland & Ellis
- Linklaters
- Mayer Brown
- Taylor Wessing
The winning law firm will be announced at the Legal Cheek Awards 2020, an invite-only virtual event taking place on the evening of Thursday 26 March.
As part of this year’s survey we received hundreds of anonymous comments from rookies on the quality of the food served up in their very fancy cafeterias. Comments varied from “dat leng scran tho” to “our kitchen should have at least one Michelin star”. Here are a select few from some of the firms listed above:
How do you rate your firm’s canteen?
“We have a great canteen with three hot options (one veggie), a salad bar, a sandwich bar, soup station, deli, selection of readymade sandwiches and a great coffee bar with pastries made in-house by our dedicated chef! The canteen staff change the menu every week and are always looking for feedback to improve. Chicken shawarma is my go-to when available as is Friday fish & chips. Full English breakfasts are served every morning as well as granola and a porridge station. There are freshly poached eggs, recently added avocado toast and a weekly omelette station too.”
“Our canteen has its own Instagram page…”
“London canteen — stellar. Serious bang for your buck and the food is great with lots of choices. The northern canteens, however, room for improvement. Everything tastes like it’s had a large amount of salt added to it and it’s very hard to eat healthily (although this is quickly improving!) Also a weird obsession with putting things ‘in a wrap’. The ‘chippy tea meze’ consisting of various deep-fried things was a particular ‘highlight’ in the terrible food stakes. However, we will all always love the shawarma and pancake Thursdays in Manchester. Also some of the best hash browns I’ve ever tasted, and I include McDonald’s in that. Great views from the canteens in Manchester and Leeds. No canteens in the Scottish or international offices.”
“Salad bar is off the chain. Food is generally very good with a focus on sustainability. Menu has its staples but there are often pop-ups relating to different cultural events that take place within the year.”
“The food is really good and very heavily subsidised. You would be unlikely to spend more than £4 — even on a larger meal. Every day there is a ‘brasserie’ option for £3.50 which could be straight out of a restaurant. All you can eat breakfast on a Friday for £2 with great veggie options. The canteen is on the ninth floor and has views across London. You can also enjoy your food on the roof terrace outside.”
The winning law firm will be announced at the Legal Cheek Awards 2020, an invite-only virtual event taking place on the evening of Thursday 26 March.
