Sunday Times, 17 June
AA Gill finds Skylon the limit

Which side of the road did the Romans drive on? I agree that this question isn’t important or relevant, and you probably don’t think it’s that interesting. But it’s the sort of question that keeps me awake in the daytime – and seeing as you’re a passenger in this column, you’re just going to have to put up with it. Take your feet off the dashboard, close the window and don’t eat crisps. There’s a quarry outside Swindon that was used by the Romans, possibly to build Swindon. The road leading to the quarry has two sets of cart tracks, one deep, the other shallow. The wagons went to the quarry empty and came out laden, proving that Romans round Swindon drove on the left. Seeing as all roads lead to Rome, we can also safely say that the entire empire was British. So, remember your safety code: vide dexter, sinister, then dexter again.

Skylon – Sunday Times review in full >>

The Times, 16 June
Giles Coren thinks Semplice the best new London Italian in years

Very few things make me feel calmer, more centred, more at peace, than really good Italian food. On the other hand, nothing in the world makes me more irritable, more roaringly, ragingly, inconsolably furious and contemplative of murder than bad Italian food. Specifically, bad Italian food screeching up and down my road every ten or 12 minutes in a box on the back of a 50cc moped, squealing like an angle-grinder going through marble mantelpieces, the little spotty bastard at the handlebars relentlessly revving, up and down, up and down, waaaa, waaaa, waaaa, in an attempt to find some miracle space between the gears which will enable his poisonous little machine to make some new and yet more suicide-inducing noise.

Semplice – Times review in full >>

Telegraph, 16 June
Mark Palmer, Bon Appétit in Ramsgate, Kent

Ramsgate is in danger of being labelled "up and coming". Already, there's a Waitrose and the other day a Caffè Nero opened in the High Street, where for decades charity shops have ruled the rather unglamorous roost in this seaside town. In grander, 19th-century days it attracted the likes of the architect Augustus Pugin and it is on its way to being back in fashion. The dodgy-looking casino next to the Ramsgate Maritime Museum is about to be moved round the corner and estate agents are buffing their brogues in preparation for a bonanza once the new rail service to London is up and running in a couple of years' time. With its imposing Regency buildings, bustling beaches and hustling harbour, Ramsgate is far more interesting than gentrified Whitstable nearby.

Bon Appétit – Telegraph full review >>

The Independent on Sunday, 17 June
Terry Durack finds London’s Mulberry Street pizzeria good fun

They like their pizza big in New York. They also like it hand-stretched, thin-based, crisp-crusted and cooked in a brick oven. And if you can make it there, you can make it anywhere - even in Westbourne Grove, W2. Billed as London's only authentic New York pizza joint, Mulberry Street serves up one mother of a pizza. Hand-stretched to a whopping 20-inch diameter, and topped with anything you like from chicken parmesan to pepperoni, Italian meatballs or even Beluga caviar, it is a daunting prospect to all but the totally famished.

Mulberry Street – Independent on Sunday review in full >>

Guardian, 16 June
Matthew Norman visits Paul Heathcote’s London Road restaurant, Cheshire

The last time I went to a restaurant owned by the revered chef Paul Heathcote, it involved the single most fiascoid journey in my arid little life. On an A-road towards Preston, the sunroof of the Renault I'd bought the day before from my cousin Linda elected to leave the main body of the car, much like the landing module separating from Apollo XI, only without the applause from Nasa HQ. Then, as I watched it in the rear-view mirror, cartwheeling towards Leeds before splintering into a zillion pieces, it began to rain.

London Road – Guardian review in full >>