What¡¯s in a name? Poetry, prose and place. And for Masato and Midori Shirakawa, the husband-and-wife team who opened the elegantly understated Il Garage just over a year ago in central Kyoto, it¡¯s a bit of all three.
Midori, 41, a professionally trained pastry chef, grew up in the building that houses Il Garage. The second-floor restaurant was formerly a mahjong parlor. The ground floor was, and still is, a car garage. And the reason for the Italian name? Well, the couple spent five years living and working in Italy ¡ª and everything sounds better in Italian.
¡°At first we were trying to think of a fancy name (for the restaurant),¡± chef Masato, 42, says. ¡°But then we thought perhaps simple is best. Also, I thought (the name) would (help) our customers to find the restaurant.¡±
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