Mishcon de Reya's staff are steering clear of the canteen after it was awarded 1/5 by food safety officers.

Inspectors from Camden council ruled in March that "major improvement is necessary" at the firm's cafeteria in Africa House. Food handling and the cafe's cleanliness needed to be improved, they said, and the kitchen's system of checks needed "major improvement" to ensure food was safe to eat. 

It's not as if the cooks were struggling along with rusty pans and a fridge on the blink. Mishcon only moved into Africa House three years ago. As well as refurbishing all the offices, it installed a high spec new cafeteria which boasts swish booths, a trendy chalk board and the means to order coffee and explosive diarrhoea with an iPad.

Choices, choices.

Mishcon did avoid the bottom rating of zero, which is awarded when rats eat the first inspector to arrive in the building. And it's also not the only firm to serve up stomach cramps. In 2015 White & Case also scored 1/5. It appealed the rating and lost, but in the three years since it has turned things around and now the food kills almost no-one.

A spokeswoman for Mishcon told RollOnFriday, "We are working with all our supply chain partners on the points raised in Camden's assessment – many of which have already been rectified. We are expecting a repeat assessment this summer and are confident we'll receive a score that reflects the high quality of both the hard-working team in the café and the food that they serve".