FEW people open restaurants these days.

It’s nearly always a café bar, café grill, café-tea room, or café-cum-deli. We eagerly await the day someone opens a café-launderette.

Now that would be really retro chic.

Another café has opened in Darlington, only this one is a café/bar and restaurant; indeed Café 85 in Duke Street is trying to cover as many bases as it can. And you can’t blame joint owner Simon Leadbetter for doing so. The café formula is by no means foolproof; witness the demise of Northallerton’s The Café – which was, err ... a café, and Darlington’s Mint.

Which brings us full circle because Café 85 is where Mint used to be and Mr Leadbetter’s partner is a certain Malcolm McKee, the man behind the Croft (Spa), McQuays Café 85 in Yarm and other culinary ventures long gone, including Mint.

Confused? There’s no need because Café 85 Darlington is the same as the one in Yarm, with almost identical menus which change weekly. But will the Café 85 formula work where Mint failed?

Working on the basis of our visit last Friday, it’s got a reasonable chance, given a safe and straightforward menu, keen pricing and eager staff led by Mr Leadbetter, who is billed as head chef but was front of house the night we called.

The décor has been revamped since the Mint days, but the layout is unchanged with a bar area at the front, giving way to café-style seating and then the more formal restaurant set-up to the rear.

Where one section begins and ends is not clear but we suspect that’s intended.

When it was Mint we thought the mix of diners and drinkers was not a good idea.

The reincarnation seems to have solved this by restricting the drinking area to a couple of tables at the front. Certainly, the night we were in there appeared to be no drinkers.

We ate from the fixed price menu which is likely to be the most popular with most people.

Four starters, four mains, six desserts; three courses for £12, Monday to Thursday, £3 more on Fridays and Saturdays.

At lunch time the same menu is available with two courses costing £7.95 and three just a tenner. There is also a more expensive a la carte.

At these prices you don’t get cutting-edge cuisine, but the fare is, nevertheless, quite cleverly done. Low-cost but good quality ingredients, simply prepared. There’s nothing that needs much cooking.

Sylvia’s roasted tomato soup was heavy on the tarragon and scaldingly hot. But very good, she said.

Laura was equally happy with her bruschetta of grilled goats’ cheese and sweet onions with rocket, and I thought my strips of air-dried Serrano-type ham served with a dinky spherical crispy duck hash and a red wine syrup an excellent combination.

The main courses followed a similarly simple trend. Sylvia thought her warm salad of lemon chicken with asparagus, new potatoes and crème fraiche suffered a little from the lemon flavour being in the salad dressing rather than the chicken, Laura found no fault with her smoked haddock, bubble and squeak, poached egg and mustard sauce. Well, the egg would have benefited from a runny yolk, but that would be a quibble, she said.

My humble fried bacon chop was too salty but very tender.

The black pudding mash was a little on the dry side but packed with the flavour. It also came with wilted lettuce, peas and broad beans. A substantial plateful.

Desserts were predictable in the extreme. Crème brûlée, STP, strawberry and vanilla cheesecake, chocolate brownie and ice creams were among the old favourites on offer. The one novelty – poached pear with rosewater syrup and red fruit salad – no-one had which, in retrospect, was a shame. That said, Laura reckoned the sticky toffee pudding was a good as any she has sampled over the years (and that’s a lot of STP).

My brûlée was also very acceptable: silky smooth custard and a well crisped sugar topping. Sylvia abstained.

It is tempting to call this catering by numbers, but that would be harsh. Although the kitchen stays well within its comfort zone, even with the slightly more adventurous a la carte menu, it is likely to find favour among those wanting a bargain basement contemporary eating experience.