Flat White Durham

Insomuch as it promises good coffee (from £1.60), this hip, student hang-out fulfils its brief. A sample flat white was a superior cup: strong, smooth, creamy, fulsome with fruity dark berry flavours, and served, correctly, at a drinkable temperature. It also came with a sublimely light amoretti biscuit on the side. That may sound like a trivial point, but at a "budget eats" level such small details matter. A short food menu includes sandwiches, jacket potatoes, reasonably attractive fresh cakes (as well as Jaffa Cakes and Tunnock's caramel wafers), and, at breakfast, toast and savoury croissants. A bowl of homemade carrot and ginger soup (£2.50) does what it says on the tin. That is, it tasted pretty vividly of carrot and ginger. The cheap, pappy bread roll that came with it, however, was a false economy. As above, such small details matter.
• Sandwiches from £3.25. 21a Elvet Bridge (+44 (0)7789 951149)

Leonard's Coffee House

Down in Fowler's Yard – a hub of craft and designer workshops, also home to the Hill Island microbrewery – Leonard's keeps the local creatives, students and shoppers in coffee and cake. A simple and uncluttered space, with bright, friendly staff and jazz meandering soothingly in the background, it is a good place to ease yourself into the day, over a breakfast of scrambled eggs on a hot buttered muffin (£3.25) and a pot of Teapigs tea (from £1.30). A tester doorstep slice of rarebit was a little unorthodox (red onion and cherry tomatoes?), but laudable for having clearly been made by grating cheese and binding that with milk, seasoning well and adding a good dollop of wholegrain mustard. It is amazing, at this level, how many times you order "rarebit" to be presented with something that is indistinguishable from cheese-on-toast. This, however, was rarebit worthy of the name.
• Breakfast from £1.95, sandwiches from £2.751. Back Silver Street (+44 (0)191-384 0647, leonardscoffeehouse.co.uk)

Bishop Cosin's Almshouse

The Almshouse cafe may squat in the shadow of Durham Cathedral, but don't expect miracles. A sample sandwich was solid, satisfactory, but ultimately lacked pizzazz. The bread – a large, poppy-seed scattered swirl of a muffin – was very good, but arrived unbuttered; and the contents – Wensleydale cheese and a reasonably good red pepper relish – were fridge-cold. It was accompanied by a shrug of a side-salad and a rather thin, unpleasant coleslaw. The homemade cakes, soups or hot dishes (like lasagne or Thai vegetable curry) may have been a better option, although the hot meals, at around £7, are not cheap. With its mullioned windows, 17th-century architecture and its prime position on Palace Green (as close as you'll get to dreaming spires, outside Oxford), this cafe could be truly great. Under new management since last November, it would seem that the Almshouse needs injecting with a little vim and personality if the food is going to match that location.
• Sandwiches £3.60-£4.35, cakes and scones, £1.60-£3.60. Palace Green (+44 (0)191-334 3688)

Vennel's Cafe

Ordinarily, it might look a bit precious to advertise your scones by the time (9am) that they were baked that morning. But at Vennel's, the regulars take this mid-morning snack (£1.10) very seriously indeed. And no wonder. A sampler cheddar scone was a dense yet feather-light, fist-sized hunk of lightly herbed pure pleasure. Think of it as cheese-on-toast taken to the next evolutionary level. While the sweet and savoury scones are one of this buzzy cafe's main draws it also does a brisk trade in sandwiches made from its own bread, ham salads (£5.25), fresh soups and myriad gorgeous cakes. You'll find it down a tiny alleyway, or vennel, off Saddler Street – look out for the sign next to East (the clothing shop). The building and its courtyard date to the 16th century.
• Sandwiches from £3. 71. Saddler Street, Saddler's Courtyard (+44 (0)191-375 0623)

Zen

Do not be put off if you hear Zen described as a student favourite. It is, but the food is much better (and the restaurant itself, more glamorous) than that might suggest. A slow-braised lamb and sweet potato massaman curry was spot-on, the plentiful lamb as tender as it could be, unusually long on flavour and laced with nuggets of fat which had melted into the sauce, giving it a mouth-coating unctuousness. Massaman curries can often be too sweet, but here the lamb was a low savoury bass note that anchored the dish. Daredevil curry fans will be reassured that, in the collection of condiments at each table, you will find chilli pepper, sweet chilli sauce, chilli oil, crushed chillies and – just to be on the safe side – Sriracha hot chilli sauce.
NB: If you don't fancy Thai, Zen has a sister restaurant, Gadz Grill, at the nearby boutique hotel, Fallen Angel. Its lunch menu offers various modern British mains at £7.50 and £9 (Fallen Angel Hotel, 34 Old Elvet, +44 (0)191-384 1037; fallenangelhotel.com).
• Daytime menu (11.30am-6pm), various soups, salads and mains, £5.95-£7.95. Court Lane (+44 (0)191-384 9588, zendurham.co.uk)

Ciao Ciao

This Mediterranean bakery-cafe does a fine line in speciality breads, sandwiches, soups and salads, but it's Ciao Ciao's Greek foods, delicious little almond or honey biscuits, baklava and its "feta pie" (£1.60) that stand out. That feta pie – known as spanakopita in Greece, borek in Turkey – is layers of crisp then yielding filo pastry, filled with spinach and a good, sharp feta. It makes an interesting, cosmopolitan alternative to its native north-east cousin, the Greggs' cheese'n'onion pasty.
• Biscuits and such from 80p, sandwiches from £2.20. 3 Framwellgate Bridge (+44 (0)191-383 0149, ciao-ciao.co.uk)

Dun Cow

As the timbered black and white facade suggests, the Dun Cow dates back to the 16th century. Its tiny snug and larger lounge bar, however, are redolent of a more recent era, the early 1980s. That is not a criticism, incidentally. This is a comfy, cosy bolt-hole, where the ale is kept in sparkling condition and the food runs – refreshingly, when there are so many bad, overpriced gastropubs about these days – to a simple, short menu of unpretentious homemade bar snacks. A bowl of chilli with pitta bread was filling, ruggedly tasty stuff, and what it lacked in sophistication, it made up for by being £3.50-a-bowl. Sandwiches include ham with local favourite pease pudding and a simple, "old fashioned chip buttie". Wash your lunch down with a pint of Castle Eden, a traditional brown English bitter, but a decent drop nonetheless (£2.60).
• Sandwiches from £1.80. 37 Old Elvet (+ 44 (0)191-386 9219)

Oldfield's Noted Eating House

A big favourite among local foodies, this airy, informal eating house is fully signed up to the modern British food agenda. The walls and place mats are covered in evocative photographs of, and hymns to, Oldfield's regional network of farmers and artisan suppliers. After that build-up, a lunchtime roast pork sandwich was a little bit of a let down. The meat was clearly good quality, as was the bread, and the little jug of gravy to pour over your skinny chips was a nice touch, but where was the extra crackling, apple sauce or stuffing to turn this solid sandwich into a gourmet treat? That said, the plates of food going out to the other tables (daytime, two courses, £11) looked great. Stretch this series' self-imposed £10-a-head budget by a pound, and you will be able to enjoy mutton hotpot followed by venison sausage and mash, or a beetroot and spiced onion salad, then braised shin beef and Yorkshire pudding.
• Sandwiches and chips £5, with soup £8. 18 Claypath (+44 (0)191-370 9595, oldfieldsrealfood.co.uk)

Seven Stars Inn

Walk 10 minutes out of Durham on the A177 (alternatively, take the 56 Bishop Auckland bus) and you're in the countryside. Ten minutes later, you'll arrive at Shincliffe, a pleasant little village and home to the Seven Stars. The pub is split, somewhat incongruously, between a rather swanky restaurant section and a traditional bar that's all copper kettles and bric-a-brac, walkers (the Weardale Way passes nearby), well-behaved dogs and convivial hubbub. The Guardian, of course, chose to eat in the bar, where, even in the evening, main dishes come in at under £10. The menu includes sandwiches and a variety of artery-popping topped rosti (£5.95), as well as good pub grub, such as a beef and Black Sheep ale pie, and a steak burger. If you prefer, certainly at lunch, they will happily let you order just a starter off the main menu. The smoked mackerel and watercress pate was fine. It had a decent dense texture – it hadn't been overworked into a mush – and had been lifted and given sharpness by a liberal application of lemon juice. Although, the two thin slices of baguette on-the-side were a little mean. The accompanying pint of freshly citrusy, flowery Magus, by Durham Brewery (£3.10), was outstanding.
• Snacks £4.25-£5.95, mains £7.95-£9.95. High Street North, Shincliffe (+44 (0)191-384 8454, sevenstarsinn.co.uk)

The Rose & Crown

If you're exploring wider County Durham, then make a mental note of this handsome, Good Food Guide-listed village pub, near Barnard Castle. The lunchtime bar menu includes a clutch of attention-grabbing sub-£10 plates, including Welsh rarebit with grilled back bacon and salad; haggis, neeps and tatties; and a salad of chicory, walnuts and local Cotherstone cheese. The Rose & Crown ploughman's (that uses Woodall's famous Cumbrian farmhouse ham) and its upmarket baguettes (oven-baked goat's cheese and red onion marmalade) look good, too.
• Lunch: baguettes £6-£7, various mains £8.95-£9.75. Romaldkirk, Barnard Castle, County Durham (+44 (0)1833 650213, rose-and-crown.co.uk)

• Tony travelled with from Manchester to Durham with First Transpennine Express (tpexpress.co.uk)