The Original Don
A golden chicken pie with a crimped edge on a dark wooden board, flour dust drifting through a beam of light

“Singapore’s original Chicken Pie, since 1983”

TheOriginal Don

Chef Don Lim’s chicken pie, a recipe he dates to 1983, still baked by his own kitchen in Singapore.

Read the story Taste the original

A name can be sold. A recipe stays with the cook.

Don Pie is the chicken pie of Chef Don Lim, who founded DON: Your Personal Pie Club at Far East Square in 2000. Today his pies are baked under the DonChef name by the kitchen he co-founded, Chicken Pie Kitchen & Don Signature Crab, at 39 Tyrwhitt Road in Jalan Besar, Singapore, and sold at four takeaway kiosks.

We are that kitchen. When we call it the original Don pie, we mean three things you can check: Chef Don Lim’s own recipe, made in the DonChef kitchen he co-founded, and sold only by us. No franchises, no third-party supply. Read what “original” means to us.

Forty years, one recipe

One cook carried the original Don pie from a staff cafeteria to a kitchen of his own. These are the turns in the road.

See the full timeline
A chicken pie on an old enamel plate beside a glass of dark local coffee on a marble coffee shop tableA Hainanese kitchenChef Don’s father, a first-generation Hainanese immigrant, runs a chicken rice stall on Purvis Street.A worn baker’s bench dusted with flour, with a wooden rolling pin and a sheet of pastry doughThe recipe beginsBaking for the Hewlett-Packard staff cafeteria, Chef Don creates the chicken pie recipe we still use.Rows of freshly baked golden pies cooling on a wire rack in a dark bakeryFar East SquareDON: Your Personal Pie Club opens in the Raffles Place area and becomes known as Don Pie.A claypot of crab bee hoon soup with a whole red crab and rice vermicelli in a milky herbal brothCrab in Toa PayohAfter selling the Don Pie brand around 2014-2015, Chef Don cooks crab bee hoon in a Toa Payoh North coffee shop.A whole family-size chicken pie seen from above, with a crimped edge and a deep golden topThe pies returnDon’s Pie & Cake brings his original pies back at Toa Payoh Food Centre II.A tray of six golden pies baking in the warm glow of a deck ovenTyrwhitt RoadWith his nephew, Chef Don opens Chicken Pie Kitchen & Don Signature Crab in Jalan Besar, where the pies are baked today under the DonChef name.
Anatomy of the original

Six parts. Every one with a job.

  1. Close-up of a golden, flaky pie crust with a glossy sheen and blistered layers
    Crust

    A golden, flaky crust

    Our pastry dough is made in-house and rolled out on a dough sheeter at 39 Tyrwhitt Road. It bakes to a golden, flaky crust. Food writers have described it as puffy, buttery or biscuit-like; we describe it the way we always have, golden and flaky, and let you be the judge.

  2. A baker’s floured hand crimping the edge of an unbaked chicken pie on a worn wooden bench
    Crimp

    The edge that holds it together

    The crimped edge is where the lid meets the base. A firm seal is what keeps the gravy inside the pie through the bake, the journey home and the reheat. When the edge holds, the filling stays where it belongs.

  3. A chicken pie cut open with steam rising, showing chunky chicken, potato, carrot, peas and half a hard-boiled egg
    Filling

    Chunks you can see

    Tender chunks of chicken, potato and vegetables, seasoned with a spice blend we keep to ourselves. Chunks, not mince. Cut an Original Chicken Pie open and you should be able to name what is inside it.

  4. Close-up of a cut chicken pie showing half a hard-boiled egg, chicken, potato, peas and carrot in creamy gravy
    Egg

    Half a hard-boiled egg

    Our signature egg sits in the filling. Half a hard-boiled egg in a chicken pie is an old-school touch that many Singaporeans remember, and it has been part of how this pie is made for as long as people have written about it.

  5. A slice of chicken pie with a flaky lid over creamy filling, half an egg, potato and peas
    Gravy

    A creamy gravy that binds

    The gravy carries the seasoning and holds the filling together, so a slice keeps its shape instead of running across the plate. Reviewers have called it rich and creamy. It should coat the chicken, not drown it.

  6. A tray of six golden pies baking in the warm glow of a deck oven
    Finish

    Baked in small batches, sold the same day

    Baked in small batches in deck ovens at our Tyrwhitt Road kitchen. We keep a strict zero overnight pies policy: a pie is sold on the day it is baked, or it is not sold.

Read the full anatomy of the original, or the craft notes behind each part.

From one recipe, a family of pies

A round golden chicken pie on a floured wooden board, rim-lit against blackOriginal Chicken PieChef Don Lim’s recipe since 1983. Chunky chicken, potato, half an egg, a golden, flaky crust.A black pepper chicken pie cut open, the filling flecked with cracked pepper, peppercorns scattered beside itBlack Pepper Chicken PieThe same pastry with an extra peppery kick.A tray of chicken shepherd’s pie with a browned, ridged mashed potato top and a portion scooped outChicken Shepherd’s PieThe black pepper filling under baked mash.A curry chicken pie cut in half, showing a golden curry filling with chicken and potatoCurry PieChicken and potato in curry spices.

See every pie we bake, including the Beef Pie and Apple Pie.

The blistered, golden edge of a baked pie crust against black
Is it the original?

Seven signs you can check at the table

Tick the ones that are true of the pie in front of you. The first one matters most.

Tick each sign that is true of the pie in front of you.

All seven? Then you are holding a DonChef pie, made to Chef Don Lim’s recipe in the kitchen he co-founded. Not sure where yours came from? Here is where to get the original Don pie.

Why each sign matters

Craft notes from the kitchen

  1. Old-school pie culture in SingaporeNeighbourhood bakeries, office lunches, family gatherings. Where the chicken pie sits in Singapore life.
  2. Zero overnight pies, and why consistency mattersThe rule we would keep if we could keep only one. And why consistency, not age, is what makes a recipe worth inheriting.
  3. Baking and restingMost of a pie's quality is decided in the oven, and some of it in the few minutes after.
  4. Pepper and seasoning in old-school piesA pie is sealed. Whatever seasoning goes in is the seasoning you get. On getting it right the first time.
  5. The half eggThe detail people remember first. On the half a hard-boiled egg in the original Don pie.
  6. Why chunks, and why leg meatA filling you can see is a filling you can trust. On cutting chicken big enough to bite.
  7. On a golden, flaky crustFood writers cannot agree what to call our crust. We think that tells you something good about it.
Flour dust drifting through a beam of warm light against a dark background

Baked today. Sold today.

Five outlets, our official ordering sites, and nowhere else. Find the nearest one, and what it costs, before you set out.

Taste the original Questions we get asked