Cut the Crust by Mona, a new pizza shop opened in October of last year at 50 Burnside Road West, has become a hub for those seeking Pakistani, Indian and Italian cuisine.
Co-owner Mona Saqib opened Cut the Crust with her husband after the two found success with their other restaurant Biryani Palace.
Mona says that having different communities and people of different backgrounds dining together and enjoying South Asian cuisine is the main driving force behind both restaurants.
“I didn’t have a background in hospitality, so I didn’t know where to start, but I knew I wanted to open a place that could be a community hub,” Mona told Victoria Buzz.
“When I see all the ethnicities under one roof, it makes me so, so happy.”
Prior to opening Biryani Palace, her husband was thinking of opening a franchise restaurant, but she pushed to start something from scratch so they could have the freedom to experiment and to share the cuisine they grew up with.
It was also a major goal to make their restaurant fully halal, so it would be culturally safe for all to eat. Both Biryani Palace and Cut the Crust are fully halal kitchens.
“This is the first fully halal pizza store in Victoria and it’s the only one,” she explained.
“So many girls and boys have told me, ‘now we have freedom to eat outside our parents’, because [Cut the Crust] is fully halal.’”
However, Mona explained that opening a second restaurant has not come without its challenges.
She says that shortly after opening, the South Asian community and others had really embraced the pizza shop, but some people in Victoria felt the need to direct their negativity towards the restaurant.
On the Victoria sub-Reddit, someone began a thread accusing the business of having fake reviews on Google, not realizing that it was run by people who already had a dedicated following of people supporting their business endeavour.
People started leaving bad reviews for Cut the Crust by Mona further accusing them of hiring people to leave the “fake reviews.”
“I had told everyone that I was starting a pizza store and they were all really, really excited,” Mona explained.
Around a month into being open, Mona noticed a Google review which read, “A lot of fake reviews.”
“After that, like, 10 Google reviews that said, ‘deceitful owners,’ ‘bad pizza store,’ ‘we never tried their pizza but they are terrible,’ stuff like that.”
“Our profile had a really good start right from the beginning, because we do have existing customers and because we had a lot of people excited because this is halal, so they were trying to support right from the beginning.”
Despite receiving some unfounded hate online, Mona, her husband and her staff have all been striving to let the food and the community who support them speak for themselves.
Cut the Crust by Mona’s food
Mona is incredibly proud of her staff and the fact that they make everything from scratch, in-house, including the pizza dough, the sauces and dips, custom mocktails, specialty beverages and more.
She says that fresh, quality ingredients are at the heart of Cut the Crust, along with sharing her culture through the cuisine they serve.
Some of the highlights of their menu, which Victorians won’t be able to find anywhere else, are the chicken chapli kebab pizza, the karahi paneer pizza and the tandoori chicken pizza.
Along with these special pies, Cut the Crust also makes all the classics, such as the 1889 classic margherita pizza, the wild mushroom pizza and the beef pepperoni pizza.
Additionally, Cut the Crust serves several different and unique sides such as maple sriracha wings and butter chicken poutine.
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Some of the specialty drinks they serve include the pomegranates devil, made with fresh pomegranate juice, mint, ginger syrup and homemade lemonade, as well as the mango caramel lassi, made with natural yoghurt, blended with mango puree and laced with caramel syrup.
Their food is made with love and care, and offers something new and fresh to Victoria’s culinary landscape.
People can order from Cut the Crust by Mona via food delivery apps, calling the restaurant or ordering online through their website.
