When we say the original Don pie, we mean three things. The recipe is the one Chef Don Lim created in 1983. The pie is made in the kitchen he co-founded at 39 Tyrwhitt Road, which bakes today under the DonChef name. And it is sold only through our five outlets and official ordering sites, because we have no franchises and supply no one else.
Why do we use the word “original” at all?
We use the word “original” because people ask us which pie is the real one. Over the years the word Don has been attached to pies by more than one business and more than one website. Customers who loved Chef Don Lim’s pie at Far East Square, China Square or Toa Payoh want to know where his pie is now. (The short answer to that is the DonChef kitchen at Tyrwhitt Road; donpies.com explains how the names Don Pie and Chicken Pie Kitchen relate if the two names have confused you.)
Our answer is short: the original Don pie is the one baked by the DonChef kitchen that Chef Don Lim co-founded. Everything on this page explains what stands behind that sentence, so that you can check it rather than take our word for it.
Our tagline, printed on our menu, is “Singapore’s original Chicken Pie, since 1983”. It is our own tagline, and it is a claim about our recipe’s age and lineage. It is not a claim to have invented the chicken pie in Singapore. Neighbourhood bakeries were selling chicken pies before 1983, and we say so on Who made Singapore’s first chicken pie?
Test one: is it Chef Don Lim’s recipe?
The first test is lineage. Chef Don Lim developed his chicken pie recipe from 1983, by his own account, while baking for the Hewlett-Packard staff cafeteria. He sold the pies from his own shops from 2000, sold them again in Toa Payoh from 2019, and has baked them at Tyrwhitt Road since 2021. In our own product notes, it is “the same recipe since the China Square days”.
The recipe has not stood still. It has been refined over the decades, which is what cooks do. What has not changed is whose recipe it is: there has been one author throughout, Chef Don Lim, and the kitchen that bakes it is the one he co-founded.
What we can prove about the recipe’s age, and what we cannot, is set out in What “since 1983” means.
Test two: is it made in his kitchen?
The second test is the kitchen. Our pies are made at 39 Tyrwhitt Road, Singapore 207538, the flagship of Chicken Pie Kitchen & Don Signature Crab. In principle, the method is the one a good pie cook would recognise anywhere:
- Pastry dough made in-house, rolled on a dough sheeter rather than bought in.
- A filling with something to bite on: chunks of chicken, potato and vegetables in a spice blend that stays ours, with half a hard-boiled egg.
- Small batches in deck ovens at Tyrwhitt Road.
- A strict zero overnight pies policy: a pie is sold on the day it is baked.
We do not publish quantities, temperatures or the spice blend. That is not mystery for its own sake. It is the same reason any family kitchen keeps its recipe book in the family. The anatomy of the original shows what each part of the pie is for.
Test three: is it sold by us?
The third test is the simplest and the most useful. We have no franchise outlets and no ongoing partnerships to supply our pies to anyone else. So the original Don pie is sold in exactly these places:
- Our flagship restaurant at 39 Tyrwhitt Road, Jalan Besar.
- Our takeaway kiosk at AMK Hub, Ang Mo Kio.
- Our takeaway kiosk at Wisma Atria, Orchard Road.
- Our takeaway kiosk at White Sands, Pasir Ris.
- Our takeaway kiosk at Tiong Bahru Plaza.
- Our official online ordering sites, which send every order to the same kitchen.
If a pie was bought somewhere else, it may well be a good pie. It is just not a DonChef pie. Addresses, hours and the official ordering sites are on where to get the original Don pie.
What “original” does not mean on this site
“Original” on this site does not mean first, best or only. It does not mean that other chicken pies are imitations, and it does not say anything about any other business’s name or rights. We think originality in food is a matter of provenance: who made it, from what recipe, and where. On those three tests we can show our working. On anything else, we would rather let the pie speak. If you want to taste it against other sellers, Pie Singapore compares ten of them in its guide to the best chicken pie in Singapore.
For a broader view of why provenance matters in food, read Why originals matter. To check a pie in your hand, use the seven signs of the original.
The three tests at a glance
| Test | The question | Our answer |
|---|---|---|
| Recipe | Is it Chef Don Lim’s recipe? | Yes. Developed from 1983, the same recipe since the China Square days |
| Kitchen | Is it made in his kitchen? | Yes. 39 Tyrwhitt Road, pastry made in-house, small batches, zero overnight pies |
| Seller | Is it sold by his business? | Yes. Five outlets and official ordering sites only. No franchises, no third-party supply |
