It's Mila's Time!

Hot! Hot! Hot! Summer in Cradock, river town of the Karoo Heartland: a time for long, cold sundowners and outdoor Mediterranean feasts up at Mila’s, in Durban Street.

The Light Touch

In this town that saw the likes of Schreiner, Butler and Robinson, where chicken is suspected to be a vegetable, the former chef at the famed Victoria Manor in Market Street has struck out on his own and is in the midst of his salad days. Pieter de Kock now has Mila’s, named after his youngest daughter, and is packing in the patrons with his lighter culinary touch. Nothing crumbed, over-sugared, over-cooked or drowned in thickened sauces.

“The other day, I served up a steak with pan-fried butternut and brinjals done in coriander pesto with parmesan,” he says. “The veggies were the real hit of the evening.”

Italian Hues

In the tradition of the original Nino de Genova of Melville, Johannesburg, Pieter has invested in backyard outdoor eating, with the addition of two 20-seater tables. The inside diners are surrounded in warm Italian reds and browns (“a bit like being in a lasagna dish”, says Pieter) and have a clear view of goings-on in the busy kitchen with its wood-fired pizza oven.

The party animals outside can quaff red wine, scarf their cheese and their olives and their spicy chicken livers and their foccaccia flatbreads and occasionally howl at a gibbous moon or two.

Legend of the Apostelkerkie

The Mila’s building has a legend that gives the restaurant even more pizzazz. It used to be the littlest church in Cradock, belonging to the Reformed Apostolics. Back in 2002, one of the church elders declared the day of his death, had a grave dug, booked the town hall for a big wake and lay down to die – under a pink satin quilt, dressed in blue checked pyjamas.

In front of a crowd of close to 1 000 followers gathered at the Apostelkerkie, nothing happened. There was no “uptake”. The elder left town and was last heard of somewhere in the shadow of the Baviaans, peddling an AIDS cure.

At Home in the Heartland

Pieter de Kock – who has no plans to leave town anytime soon – is building a following among the local Heartlanders, many of now take an occasional break from regular farmhouse fare and order out from Mila’s. Then there’s the ever-growing flow of up-country tourists stopping over.

A Team Sport

One of the reasons for Mila’s success is the support Pieter gets from the people of Cradock. He, in turn, hires local help and services exclusively. As we finish our excellent Reef Platter (scuba dive with your taste buds into a world of queen prawns, calamari and mussels on lemon-scented rice) in comes the bubbly Cindy Niemand with a trayful of her delicious panna cotta desserts.

 “Running a restaurant like this in a small town is a team sport,” says Pieter, who is celebrating friendly slow-hand cooking in the Karoo… - Text & Photogaphy by Chris Marais

• While you’re visiting Mila’s, pop next door to Mila’s Lite and see our photographic exhibition called Steel Flowers. It’s the biggest photo collection of windpumps (often called windmills) in the world.