Three generations of cooking since 1961: from chicken rice on Purvis Street to Singapore's original Chicken Pie, still folded by hand at 39 Tyrwhitt Road.
A family kitchen, three generations deep, each one cooking on its own Singapore street.
1961 to 1972
The first generation
A first-generation immigrant from Hainan, he opened Jee Hai Hainanese Chicken Rice at 8 Purvis Street, one of Singapore's chicken-rice hawker pioneers. He gave the family its trade.
Read the 1961 Chapter1983 to 2014
The second generation
His eighth child created Singapore's original Chicken Pie in the staff canteen at HP, won a $30,000 loan with a single pie, and built Don Pie at Far East Square and Don Signature Crab.
Read the 1983 Chapter2021 to now
The third generation
Don's nephew, the boy who built Don Pie's first website, brought the recipe home to 39 Tyrwhitt Road. He runs the kitchen today, and every pie is still folded by hand.
Read the 2021 ChapterYear by year, with photographs from the family archive.
1961 to 1972
Lim Tee Kheng (林世耿), a first-generation immigrant from Hainan, set up Jee Hai on Purvis Street, then known as 海南二街. He was one of Singapore's chicken-rice hawker pioneers, part of the scene the city is now famous for.
1983 to 1999
Don Lim (林德發), Tee Kheng's eighth child, joined the staff canteen at HP Singapore as a kitchen assistant, tasked with a new pastry every day. There he created Singapore's original Chicken Pie. Staff ordered it for friends and family, and urged him to open a shop of his own.
2000
To open his first shop, Don needed a loan. He baked the loan officer at Hong Leong Finance a Chicken Pie, and came away with $30,000. In April 2004, Deputy Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong retold the story to NTU undergraduates: “He baked the loan officer one chicken pie… It worked.”
2000 to 2014
Don Pie opened on China Street at Far East Square in Raffles Place, and grew across the road into China Square Central, then across the region. Hard work and family carried it: when the China Street shop first opened, Kelvin and his mother came down on weekends and after school to help peel eggs and potatoes.
2000s
The crab bee hoon started as a family meal. Kelvin's mother is a star in the kitchen who cooks literally everything: she taught Don how to cook crab, and the two of them worked out the recipes for the dishes and the cakes together. At Don Pie, the smell of the herbal seafood broth reached passers-by, who asked to order it too. Don Signature Crab was born.
In the press. Eatbook, May 2023; Get Fed, January 2026; and HungryGoWhere, June 2026.
By 2002
By 2002 Don Pie had grown across Cross Street into a bigger shop, with a long pie counter, a room of mixers and a row of burners for the crab bee hoon pots.
2002
Kelvin, then a primary-school boy, built Don Pie's first website. His fee was a Game Boy Color and a Pokémon Blue cartridge. The home page welcomed visitors to the Personal Pie Club and listed both shops, at 20 Cross Street in China Square Central and 25 China Street in Far East Square, “opposite each other”.
Don - Your Personal Pie Club
Welcome to Don - Your Personal Pie Club.
So, looking for great pies? Read on for more details!
We are currently located at:
20 Cross Street, #01-34/35/36, China Square Central, Singapore 048422
and
25 China Street, #01-01, Far East Square, Singapore 048422; both shops which are opposite each other.
We are open from 8am - 9pm on Mondays to Fridays, and 8am to 5pm on Saturdays, Sundays, and Public Holidays.
This website contains information about the food we sell, which currently includes our best-seller chicken pies, creamy cheese cakes, kueh lapis, and our chocolate fudge. We sell other products too, but, not everything are listed on this site. For more information about what we sell, kindly call us at 63274344.
2005
In July 2005 Don baked a giant Chicken Pie at China Square Central, ringed by dozens of personal pies, to raise money for charity.
2014
Amid a hard economic outlook, Don Pie was sold in 2014 and has changed hands several times since. Don kept cooking. The same year he opened a Don Signature Crab stall in a coffeeshop at 206 Toa Payoh North, serving the crab bee hoon his family grew up on.
In the press. SETHLUI.com, March 2016; Eatbook, April 2017; Miss Tam Chiak, May 2017; 8days, March 2018; and Time Out Singapore, June 2019.
2019
The team moved into a partnership at an industrial canteen at 1008A Toa Payoh North. In the kitchen's own words, a very painful one.
2021 to now
During the pandemic Don asked his nephew Kelvin Leong to bring the recipe back. Long-time customers may remember Kelvin as the boy who built Don Pie's first website and peeled eggs and potatoes in the kitchen. To him it was the family recipe he grew up with, and he brought the brand back as Chicken Pie Kitchen & Don Signature Crab.
In the press. 8days, December 2021; SETHLUI.com, December 2022; and Miss Tam Chiak, December 2022.
2022
In October the restaurant marked its first anniversary at Tyrwhitt Road and Don's 63rd birthday with the customers who had found their way back, and three days of free kueh lapis.
In the press. The Straits Times, July 2022; The Business Times, July 2022; CNA, July 2022; and Lianhe Zaobao, October 2022.
2023
On 27 June 2023 the kitchen put up its first billboard on Orchard Road, at the foot of Tang Plaza. It counted forty years of Chicken Pie-fection, from the first pie at HP in 1983.
In the press. ieatishootipost, April 2023 and Honeycombers, June 2023.
2024 to 2026
Takeaway kiosks followed, each owned and run by the kitchen itself: Wisma Atria on Orchard Road, opened in September 2024, AMK Hub in Ang Mo Kio, White Sands in Pasir Ris and Tiong Bahru Plaza.
In the press. Miss Tam Chiak, January 2025.
Today
43 years after the first pie, Kelvin oversees the kitchen, and every dish is still checked by our kitchen team before it leaves the pass. Every pie is folded by hand, never mass-produced, and baked in-house in small batches through the day.
In the press. Tasting Table, June 2025; Eatbook, September 2026; and The Straits Times, November 2026.
The newest chapter is painted on a wall. A few doors up from the restaurant, at 43 Tyrwhitt Road, our Chicken Pie VS Crab mural sends a chicken pie and a crab claw at each other over Marina Bay, while a crowd photographs the pie stall.
On 8 November 2026 The Straits Times featured the mural in Old trades, new cafes: Can Jalan Besar keep its charm?
Food writers and television shows that have sat down to eat with us.
“This Might Be Singapore's Best Crab Bee Hoon Soup?!”
“Origins of Crab Bee Hoon Soup and How to Recreate It”
“Free Food for Singapore Bankers: our chicken pies, handed out in Raffles Place”
See @supercoolben“Chicken Pie Kitchen: Don's Signature Crab Bee Hoon, the Don Is Back!”
Read the ReviewNewest first, from the food writers to the national papers. Each link opens the piece where it was published.
Based on 840 reviews on Google Maps.
The broth was incredibly delicious. I dine in twice and once to take away a chicken pie (the pie kept warm wonderfully; it was still hot an hour later – I took it outside Jinsha to tide me over while waiting for the night view). The shrimp and scallops were also excellent (both had three shrimp, and they weren't small). The wall next to the restaurant features murals that reflect the restaurant's unique atmosphere.
I come by recommendation, the shepherd pie was the best one I had in my life. Regretted that I ordered a single person portion which cost around $6.60 (think so). Should have ordered the whole portion $33+++ (sorry can't remember the exact amount)
But 4 of us ordered the large crab 🦀 bee hoon laksa ($78++) and it was delicious 😋. It's not to spicy for me, and the bee hoon was soak to perfection in the laksa. Best of it is the crab is fresh.
100% coming back for their shepherd pie and also their chicken pie.
Finally — a pet café where my furson actually finishes his food. That alone deserves 5 stars 🐾
Humans are very well fed too — the crab (chor) bee hoon soup is rich and comforting, with meaty crab, while the lala & prawn (you) bee hoon is spicy, flavourful, and my personal favourite (the prawns are big and juicy).
Quality ingredients, proper air-conditioned dining for furkids, and even gold-plated cutlery for us — talk about dining in style. Come for the food, stay for the vibes. Fursons approved 🐶✨
Tried this place for the first time and was really pleasantly surprised! The crab bee hoon was very tasty. Soup was thick and flavourful. Crab was fresh and meaty.
Cheese cake was nice also. The service is good, they ensured our water was refilled constantly. Will visit again if I have crab craving again.
The food taste is original umami flavour. My gf like it a lot. The drink recommended was special.
Im so happy with the service and reception here. They received us so warmly with my maltipoo and the food is sooooo good. And the prices are reasonable! Most pet friendly places are so overpriced, MINUS the aircon environment mind you! This will be my new favourite place to dine with my furkid now on! Thank u team, love your friendly and warm attitudes, especially towards my fur-baby ❤️
A great place, history & food. My dad used to buy chicken pie from Don’s very frequently, when I was younger. Have never been able to find another chicken pie that could rival Don’s. Love this place so much & love their food!!! Oh & they’re pet friendly as well.
We ordered Lala & Prawns Bee Hoon and loved it lots! Lala & Prawns were XL in size and very fresh (seldom come across places that serve fresh prawns these days). Don’t think you can find this soup taste elsewhere. Will be back to try the other dishes. 😋 Staff were friendly and helpful too. 👍🏻
Dog friendly place, do reserve early as they only have two tables which allows dogs. Don pie still taste the same after so many years. The seafood soup is a must try, very flavourful and the added herbs go well!
Very worth it for the price for the prawn noodle
Pet friendly but must be leashed.
Wifi available
Ratings
Pricing : - reasonable
Service : excellent
Food : tasty
Environment: cosy
Delivery : fast
Covid measures : excellent Pet friendly 🐶🐾✅
Love the broth of the crab bee hoon ...yummy🥰...the prawn bee hoon ..another star on its own!
I have eaten Don's pies since I was a kid when my parents would by for me. I am glad Don has reopened his own place and brought back the ORIGINAL standard that I tasted 20 years ago. The pastry is fragrant, the chicken chunks are well present. Over the years, the taste from other outlets changed and degraded, but now eating the pie from his own shop now in 2022 brings back memories.
XXL Crab bee hoon is a MUST!
Laksa is heavenly creamy and umami!
Druken shrimp is very unique!
All must try, including the chicken pie!
Been enjoying Don’s chicken pie for a long time, first time trying his crab bee hoon. I can only say it’s a wonderful rendition of the dish, not too ‘gelat’ and the portion is just nice for two. Have to add the chilli is perfect. Will definitely be back for more pies and crab.
A very delightful serving of white beehoon with the tasty broth and chunks of prawns and lala at a very affordable and more than reasonable price! The chicken pies (and Shepherd) are great as well, so much ingredients inside that give you satisfaction to every mouth and cut of the pie.
Try it and you will love it!
Ps. This review was at the new outlet. They have moved to the new location at 39 Tyrwhitt Road.
Really rich and umami broth! The portion was HUGE with an abundance of ingredients. The one pax serving fed 2 adults well. Chicken pie was yummy. I liked the chic decor as well.
Top notch laksa, crab beehoon, cheesecake, and of course pie at this cosy pet-friendly eatery. Will definitely be returning and trying more of the menu.
Amazing taste and quality of the dishes. I ordered the black pepper chicken pie as well as the crab bee hoon. The crabs were so fresh and the soup was extremely delicious! Perfect for a rainy day!
The black pepper chicken pie crust was soft but crispy, the filling portions were generous and really good!
Parking was very convenient as well with the stadium nearby, you get hundreds of lots just a quick walk away.
I highly recommend the place! I'm going to try the la la next!
Celebrate Chef Don’s 63rd Birthday with Us!DonChef's 63rd birthday and the restaurant's first anniversary at Tyrwhitt Road.
DonChef's Original PiesThe original chicken pie since 1983, baked the way you remember it.
Chicken Pie Making Tips by DonChefGood chicken, handmade dough, a secret spice blend and small batches: how the pies are made.