Sydney restaurateur Jackie Milijash died over the weekend at age 52.
Milijash, who owned a number of venues in Sydney including Jackie’s Restaurant and Bar, Raw Bar, and Jackies Caf, was found in her Avalon home by her mother. The restaurateur had suffered from chronic pain and poor health in recent years, but was planning to open a new venue in Sydney’s northern beaches area.
Milijash launched her career in 1989, when she opened the first Jackie's Cafe in the Sydney CBD and has since been credited with kick starting the city’s caf culture. The current Jackie’s Caf in Paddington is a celebrity favourite, with Nicole Kidman, Naomi Watts and Hugh Jackman among the list of regulars.
"I decided there was a need for a serious bohemian-type cafe when I went to the movies one night in the city and everywhere we tried to go afterwards for a coffee was awful. You either do something well or you don't do it at all. And more importantly you must do it from the heart," she once told the Sydney Morning Herald.
