Senthé

Senthé (pronounced "senn-té") is a multi-functional space, but as the name suggests, its two main attractions are as a tea house and Go salon. Although the reference to tea may be obvious, the other one is perhaps more recognizable to well-versed Go players, as sente is the name for a play in this 1,000-year-old Chinese strategy game.

But just how did such a concept come about? "It came to me at the poolside with my family, around 2005," says owner Lydia Gallant. "We were talking about what we'd like to do one day.  My sister wanted to open a coffee shop and I was playing Go. We thought it would be fun to have a café where we could play go, but I then, I love tea..."

With the idea of the​​ tearoom sitting in the back of her mind, Lydia went on to a career in IT, but was not happy. By 2011, Lydia became convinced that she was on the wrong path professionally. She  did some research, developed a business plan, conducted market research and concluded that the tearoom/salon project was viable. After several years working on the concept, she finally opened Senthé in the summer of 2015.