Winning this year’s “Where Does the Chef Find the Time Award?” is Ben Devlin,who somehow runs a restaurant and regular art classes in Japanese gyotaku printing. You can spot his ink prints of fish and squid on the walls of this first rate fine diner in small-but-spiffy Pottsville.

The set menu echoes such creativity and care:smoky ice-brined pearl perch comes with caramelised persimmon and marigold vinegar,pasta-like poached potatoes with fried saltbush and peppery squid ragu,and dry-aged,glazed duck is served with salted-pumpkin tacos and a butterscotchy duck- fat-caramel biscuit. Sustainability is at the core,too,with hyperlocal produce meeting a minimal-waste mantra that turns vegetable offcuts into a herby “tasty waste paste” dipping sauce and fish bones into bone china.

Through it all is that sweet spot between complexity and comfort,making the most of every morsel and moment. Perhaps that’s how he finds the time.

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