WHILE Tacloban City is still recovering from the devastation of typhoon Yolanda more than half a year later, the most visible sign of recovery at the central commercial district are small restaurants that surprisingly showcase international cuisine.
Like this tiny restaurant along Burgos Street, one among many tiny restaurants there – the Sunzibar Resto Café.
“Established in 2000,” its menu says, and it seems to have a steady stream of habitués.
Its menu reads like a merry mix of gustatory delights: hummus, nachos, tostadas, chimichanga, burritos, flautas, quesadillas, carbonara, pomodoro, creamy pesto, creamy tomato soup, pumpkin and carrot soup, and Diablo chops and chops with hummus, and roasted eggplant with greens salad.
Diablo chops seems a favorite. It’s a huge chunk of pork that melts in your mouth.
The pepper chops, on the other hand has two slices of pork chops. There is also the bangus belly topped with hummus. All go with green salad, with a distinct vinaigrette-based dressing uniquely theirs.
The roasted eggplant with greens had this green salad with vinaigrette-based dressing topped with slices of roasted eggplant. The house salad, on the other hand, is the green salad sans the roasted eggplant slices.
Sunzibar and the neighboring restaurants and bars all in a row seem to be a favorite hangout of both young and old in Tacloban.
It teems with people, including the hordes of humanitarian workers still helping out there, and they all seem to be having a very good time.