Built in Saigon, with love.
Centrente is a Trancent venture. Trancent is a Vietnamese-French group whose work moves between Saigon, Hanoi, Paris, and Lille. The name is a portmanteau of centre — because the centre of a city, the centre of a country, the centre of an idea is where this house intends to live.
We chose Saigon for the reasons everyone who has lived here knows. The food at three in the morning. The hours kept differently. The opening of an alleyway at six. The smell of the river after rain. The unembarrassed warmth of people who do not need to be asked twice. Vietnam taught a generation of us how to live; Centrente is, in part, how we begin to say it back.
The house is built by Trancent. The hospitality will be Vietnamese, the precision French. The wines European, the cuisine French, the view Saigon's, the service uncompromising. Behind every detail, the same intention: that a stay here feels like being looked after by people who actually like that you came.
We owe Vietnam a great deal. Centrente is how we say thank you.