Together with her husband Werner Pilz, a German, she was running the restaurant in her own living room.[2] They opened Shiro "to have something to do".[3] That turned out in a restaurant that was awarded one Michelin star in the period 1996–2001.[4] Aside from cooking, she specialized in Japanese watercolour calligraphy and paintings.[5]
Although living in Berlin at the time, Pilz bought the villa Woodlands in 1983. She and her family moved to Ireland and renovated the villa before opening the restaurant.[6]