16 Horsemarket

We went to 16 Horsemarket in Darlington on Saturday, the second time we've been there in recent weeks. This is the cafe/bistro of Darlington's leisure centre (The Dolphin Centre) though you'd never guess it was the cafe of a council run sports centre. The quality of the food and its presentation puts it in a league with establishments of a supposedly higher class.
The thing that really marks this place out as different though is the cost - it's unbelievably cheap for what you get. All of the food and drink in the picture here - that's 2 Hummus Pittas served with a delicious salad of mixed leaves, baby tomatoes, peppers and cucumber, drizzled with a balsamic dressing, a plate of mixed olives & marinaded garlic and 2 cappuccinos came to only £9. The hummus & pitta salad is just £2.25. I've paid over a fiver for worse salads than that. It comes from the section of the menu called "small plates & breads". Small plate?!
On our previous visits we had sandwiches, egg mayonnaise and mixed cheese, which come on a long platter with a smaller portion of the salad and some lattice fries. It makes the sandwiches at Cafe Nero (for example) look extortionate. I made the mistake of thinking that for the price of it, I was ONLY going to get the sandwich, and so ordered a portion of chips to go with it. These were wasted as we simply couldn't manage them. My dad had the ham sandwich and there seemed to be half a pig in it - and not the slimy, shiny, processed ham you sometimes get, but proper butcher's sliced ham.
The larger meals that others around us had looked great too - good portions, well presented and delicious-looking.
If you're in Darlington and fancy lunch I'd recommend this place. It's on the main square and on a sunny day it's lovely to sit outside; on a less nice day inside is good too.