A green shipping container in the car park of Dunkeld and Birnam train station is the scene of a one-man food revolution.
Orkun Çevik can hardly cope with the demand for his gourmet burgers made with prime beef sourced from the local butcher just across the busy A9.
Small-batch fried, skin-on French fries, gem lettuce and giant sliced beef tomatoes are served with the burgers to customers coming to the pine wood hatch backing onto the platform.
His Craft Diner has just celebrated one year of trading and with every weekend more people travel to Dunkeld to try the tattooed Turk’s tasty food.
Orkun lives and breathes quality ingredients. He was a chef in North Cyprus and in the 90s worked on Royal Caribbean Cruise Line ships out of Miami. "It made me a highly disciplined man," he said.
He’s worked with big names in top kitchens – for Scottish chef James Thomson and as head chef in Daniel Clifford’s gastro pub.
He is a freelance chef and found his way to Perthshire through a job at Dunkeld House Hotel.
When the pandemic closed down hospitality he lost his post. As someone who was always busy, doing nothing did not suit him. Orkun “climbed the walls” dealing with the unknown nature of the extended first lockdown.
“People who’ve worked with me know I have no patience,” he told the PA.
“As 2020 came to an end, I told my wife, I can’t wait for things to get back to normal, I can’t cope with all the unknowns.
“I had to open my own business. I looked for a location and Dunkeld Station was an option, a car park off the major route, asking for a focal point.
“My first idea was to have a diner in a motorhome, a Streamline was my dream. Chips and burgers but with nothing ‘ordinary’ about it.
“Finances led me to consider a shipping container, but Perth and Kinross Council were, how do you put it, uneducated when I put the idea to them.
“I had to explain and explain that many businesses were operating out of converted shipping containers and I had a company in England willing to do it.
“There were so many hurdles, it took nine months before I got my permission, I had to go before a board meeting, there were several local objectors.
“I lost the whole of last summer. It was August 2021 when I got the green light.”
Orkun admits to having attitude. He won’t do a burger ‘your way’, he will serve it to you the way he thinks is best. You don’t get offered ketchup or vinegar - “tomato ketchup kills the palate. I won’t have it.”
If there’s a draw back it is that he’s built a catering unit for one, there are no helpers. Saturday night is a very busy time, and you should expect to wait, it’s not fast food.
But punters are putting up positive reviews on Instagram and the Craft Diner’s fame is spreading beyond Perthshire.
Under canvas umbrellas, seated on picnic tables in the sunshine a family had planned their holiday around a visit. “We came to check it out from Edinburgh and rented a place in Dunkeld,” said the mum-of-two.
Beside them, trout fishermen from Dundee, still in waders from a day on the Tay, snapped up burgers to speed off with in their monster pick-up truck.
“I could charge £20 plus for my burgers in a gastro pub. I use the same recipe as Gordon Ramsay,” said Orkun over the sound of the spitting grill.
“Come and try for yourself. You’ll see why I get through 90 to 100 in a day.”
The man has confidence in his product, he even has a chicken burger called an OFC – Orkun Fried Chicken - in a cheeky dig at the colonel from Kentucky.
The Craft Diner version has eye-catching red cabbage slaw and Orkun makes his own spicy breadcrumb coating.
The menu is on Facebook, there are options like the ‘Craft Burger’ - bacon, mixed grilled onions and jalapeño peppers, barbecue sauce and Emmental cheese £7.50 or ‘The Orkie’ - bacon, onion jam, roasted garlic aioli, blue cheese crumble £8.
The Craft Diner has an ‘Irish Burger’ with coloured peppers, Guinness and cheddar cheese for £7.50 or for veggies, a Port mushroom stuffed with seasonal wild mushroom, parsley, spice and herbs topped with smoked cheese costing £7.50.
The diner is closed on Tuesday, open Monday, Wednesday, Thursday 8am-7.30pm, 8am until 8.30pm Friday and Saturday and 8am until 8pm Sunday.
See www.thecraftdiner.co.uk, tel 07713 455291.
