The original Don timeline
Every entry has a source. Where sources disagree, we say so. Drag, swipe, use the arrows, or scrub the slider.
The chicken pie recipe of Chef Don Lim dates, by his account, to 1983 at the Hewlett-Packard staff cafeteria. He opened Don Pie at Far East Square in 2000, sold the brand around 2014-2015, cooked crab bee hoon in Toa Payoh North from about 2015, brought his pies back in 2019, and co-founded Chicken Pie Kitchen & Don Signature Crab at 39 Tyrwhitt Road in 2021, which bakes the pies today under the DonChef name.
From Purvis Street to Tyrwhitt Road
Eleven moments, each one dated as carefully as the record allows. The story behind them is told at length in The Original Don story.
- 1960s
A Hainanese chicken rice stall on Purvis Street
Chef Don Lim’s father, a first-generation Hainanese immigrant, runs a chicken rice stall on Purvis Street. This is the cooking family the pie comes from.
Our own About page says the 1960s. Another family account gives the stall’s years as 1955 to 1972.
Source: Chicken Pie Kitchen & Don Signature Crab, About us page (chickenpie.sg)
- 1983
The recipe begins in a staff cafeteria
Chef Don develops his chicken pie recipe while baking pastries for the staff cafeteria of a major technology company, Hewlett-Packard, in what he calls the HP days at Depot Road. He keeps refining it from here.
1983 is Chef Don’s own dating of the recipe. We know of no document from 1983 itself, and we say so.
Source: Chicken Pie Kitchen & Don Signature Crab, Original Chicken Pie product page and “Chef Don Lim’s original pies” page (chickenpie.sg)
- 2000
The first shop at Far East Square
Chef Don opens his first pie shop, DON: Your Personal Pie Club, at Far East Square in the Raffles Place area. The name people remember is shorter: Don, or Don Pie.
Our About page says 2000. The pie club website gives 2001.
Sources: Chicken Pie Kitchen & Don Signature Crab, About us page; DON: Your Personal Pie Club website (donpieclub.com.sg)
- 2000s
A restaurant at China Square Central
The shop grows into a restaurant across the street at China Square Central, 20 Cross Street. A 2008 food blog records a whole chicken pie there at $18.
Source: For the Love of Food blog, “DON Your Personal Pie Club”, October 2008
- c. 2014-2015
The Don Pie brand is sold
Chef Don sells the Don Pie brand. It changes hands more than once afterwards. For the next few years he does not sell his pies. He cooks crab instead.
Our About page gives 2014. Some published accounts give November 2015.
Sources: Chicken Pie Kitchen & Don Signature Crab, About us page; Miss Tam Chiak, “Don Signature Crab”, 2017
- c. 2015
Don Signature Crab in a Toa Payoh North coffee shop
Chef Don opens a crab bee hoon stall, Don Signature Crab, in a coffee shop at Blk 206 Toa Payoh North. By 2017, food bloggers are writing about his crab bee hoon soup.
Our own timeline says 2014; food bloggers who visited date the opening to March 2015. The stall has since closed.
Sources: SG Food on Foot, “Don Signature Crab, Toa Payoh North”, May 2017; Ivan Teh, Runninghawker blog, February 2019
- 2019
The pies come back to Toa Payoh
Chef Don sells his original pies again under the name Don’s Pie & Cake, alongside his crab, at Toa Payoh Food Centre II, 1008A Toa Payoh North.
This Toa Payoh stall has also closed. There is no Toa Payoh outlet today.
Source: UMakeMeHungry, “Don’s Pie & Cake, Signature Crab”, September 2020
- 2021
Chicken Pie Kitchen & Don Signature Crab at Tyrwhitt Road
During the pandemic, Chef Don asks his nephew, Kelvin Leong, to help revive the business. Together they open Chicken Pie Kitchen & Don Signature Crab at 39 Tyrwhitt Road in Jalan Besar, with the pies and the crab under one roof.
Sources: Chicken Pie Kitchen & Don Signature Crab, About us page; SethLui.com, Chicken Pie Kitchen & Don Signature Crab feature, December 2022
- 2022
Pie delivery begins
On 13 September 2022 the kitchen launches its own pie delivery service, so whole pies can travel across the island from Tyrwhitt Road.
Source: Chicken Pie Kitchen & Don Signature Crab, pie delivery announcement, September 2022
- 2025
More ways to reach the same kitchen
A new kiosk opens at Tiong Bahru Plaza. In April 2025 the DON: Your Personal Pie Club website soft-launches for online orders, which are made by the same kitchen.
Sources: buy.chickenpie.sg outlet list; DON: Your Personal Pie Club website (donpieclub.com.sg)
- Today
One kitchen, five outlets
DonChef’s Original Chicken Pie is baked at 39 Tyrwhitt Road and sold there and at our kiosks in AMK Hub, Wisma Atria, White Sands and Tiong Bahru Plaza. We have no franchises and supply no one else.
Source: Chicken Pie Kitchen & Don Signature Crab, Contact us page and ordering FAQ
How we built this timeline
We included an event only if it appears in our own records or in a published source we could read. Our own records, such as our About page, product notes and printed menu, are cited by name. Outside sources are linked so you can check them yourself.
Which dates are disputed?
Three dates have more than one version in the record, and we show the range rather than pick the most convenient one:
- The first shop at Far East Square: 2000 in our records, 2001 on the pie club website.
- The sale of the Don Pie brand: 2014 in our records, November 2015 in some published accounts.
- The opening of Don Signature Crab in Toa Payoh North: 2014 in our own timeline, March 2015 according to food bloggers who visited.
What is not on the timeline?
Some events are missing because we could not date them properly, such as when each pie other than the Original joined the menu, or exactly when each Don Pie outlet of the 2000s opened. Others are missing because they are not our story to tell, such as what happened to the Don Pie brand after it was sold. For a second chronology of the same founder, our sister site donpies.com has published What Happened to Don Pie? A dated timeline, 1983 to 2026. If you have a dated record that would improve this timeline, we would like to see it. Read how we research and write.
Is there a Toa Payoh outlet today?
No. Both Toa Payoh stalls closed when the business moved to Tyrwhitt Road in 2021. The nearest outlet for Toa Payoh residents is our AMK Hub kiosk. See where to get the original Don pie.
The timeline in plain text
- 1960s: A Hainanese chicken rice stall on Purvis Street. Our own About page says the 1960s. Another family account gives the stall’s years as 1955 to 1972.
- 1983: The recipe begins in a staff cafeteria. 1983 is Chef Don’s own dating of the recipe. We know of no document from 1983 itself, and we say so.
- 2000: The first shop at Far East Square. Our About page says 2000. The pie club website gives 2001.
- 2000s: A restaurant at China Square Central.
- c. 2014-2015: The Don Pie brand is sold. Our About page gives 2014. Some published accounts give November 2015.
- c. 2015: Don Signature Crab in a Toa Payoh North coffee shop. Our own timeline says 2014; food bloggers who visited date the opening to March 2015. The stall has since closed.
- 2019: The pies come back to Toa Payoh. This Toa Payoh stall has also closed. There is no Toa Payoh outlet today.
- 2021: Chicken Pie Kitchen & Don Signature Crab at Tyrwhitt Road.
- 2022: Pie delivery begins.
- 2025: More ways to reach the same kitchen.
- Today: One kitchen, five outlets.