Recently-opened cafeteria-style East End restaurant offering an array of well-spiced dishes from Trinidad and Tobago.

5420 Lawndale St #500, Houston, TX 77023
(832) 831-1373
Website

PERMANENTLY CLOSED

So far in this blog, we have yet to cover any of the cuisines of the Caribbean. Alerted by a friend’s social media post to the presence of a new “delicious (and spicy) Trini restaurant” in Houston’s East End and intrigued by the menu on their website, we hightailed it over that very day for lunch to begin correcting the oversight. The diverse cuisine of Trinidad and Tobago blends many cultural influences, notably West African and South Asian, and we were excited to give it a try.

Named after the national flower of Trinidad and Tobago, Chaconia occupies a strip mall across from the Eastwood post office on Lawndale St. Upon entering the bright interior, we were greeted with a cafeteria-style steam table loaded with an assortment of stewed meat dishes and vegetable sides. Although the menu indicates that mains include “roti or rice,” the actual system when we ordered followed the “meat and two veg” protocol, rice being one of the veg options. After selecting two plates of food, we enquired about the roti, and were informed that these had to be ordered from the kitchen, so we put in an order for one and also got a glass of mauby, a sweet Caribbean beverage made from tree bark.

Curry chicken, channa (chickpeas), and aloo (potatoes) ($9): All components on this plate had a light curry flavor and tasted vibrant from the freshness of the spices and aromatics. The bone-in chicken mixed white and dark meat, but some of the white had crossed over onto the dry side, perhaps from sitting for a long spell in its chafing pan. The chickpeas delivered a smooth starchy texture laced with enough South Asian-style flavor that made it difficult to leave a single spoonful despite the plate’s overall heartiness. The block-sized potatoes yellowed by the curry were soft and not mushy, but the whopping amount of this filler threatened to make for a very drowsy rest of the afternoon.

Curry goat, macaroni pie, red kidney beans ($12.00): While we were excited to sample the curried goat, it is not uncommon for goat meat to be tough. Although the meat doused in its dark, richly-seasoned curry sauce tasted delicious, the version we got at Chaconia didn’t do much to dispel that notion. Many bites of the meat necessitated too much chewing and had gristly bits to be completely enjoyable, so we’re not likely to order it again unless we hear our experience was out of the ordinary. The side dishes on this plate were a bigger hit: the macaroni pie was a dense, molded version of baked mac and cheese, and the soft beans nestled in a velvety, well-seasoned gravy, which (we think) included Scotch bonnet peppers but was not mouth-searing.

Speaking of spicy: After taking the first few bites of our plates, we noticed squeeze bottles of sauces and chutneys behind the counter and asked about them. One turned out to be a yellow pepper sauce, which we requested some of, hoping for extra heat. If you like to dial up the Scoville units, do not be shy about asking for a small cup of this sauce: it is very hot and flavorful, tasting strongly of Scotch bonnets.

Roti: A folded airplane blanket of flatbread stuffed with lightly-spiced, ground yellow peas, this was the sleeper hit of our meal. The warm, pliable roti stood on its own strengths, but also functioned perfectly as a sauce mop. Sorry, we dropped the ball on noting the price on this one—it’s not shown on the menu—but this, along with the yellow sauce, counts as the not-to-be-missed item at Chaconia (even though, like the sauce, we had to do extra to obtain it).

We’re big supporters of Chaconia’s effort to bring a full menu of authentic and affordable Trini food to Houston’s East End and hope to see them succeed and work out some of the small initial kinks with the ordering system and food. We didn’t see a lot of other customers while we were there, although admittedly we arrived on the late side for lunch. Please give them a try if you are curious and in the area!