Don Pie reviews: what food writers and diners say

Reviews of Don Pie span almost two decades, two business names and two very different dishes, all from kitchens started by Chef Don Lim, who founded Don Pie and co-founded the restaurant that bakes as DonChef today. We have read what we could find and summarised it below, with links. One note before you read on: several of the published reviews were hosted or sponsored, and we flag them.

What do reviewers praise most?

Nostalgia. The most common reaction is that the pie tastes the way people remember it from the Far East Square and China Square days. SETHLUI.com’s 2022 writer said one bite took them straight back to childhood and praised an even ratio of crust to filling.

Generous filling. Burpple reviewers from 2022 to 2025 describe plenty of chicken chunks, potato and half a hard-boiled egg. Miss Tam Chiak noted boneless chicken leg meat and pies larger than usual.

The egg. Ieatishootipost singled out the half egg in every pie, along with potatoes, peas, carrots and chicken, as the mark of an old-school Hainanese-style pie.

Value. The same 2023 post judged a $6.80 personal pie substantial, noting that similar-sized pies elsewhere cost around $10.

The crab bee hoon. The soup is praised for a herbal, umami broth and fresh crab, and on Burpple the lala and prawn white bee hoon and the laksa win fans too.

What do reviewers criticise?

The crust. Opinions on the pastry differ more than anything else. SETHLUI.com found it buttery and flaky. Ieatishootipost called it old-school and nicely puffy, but “not as buttery as we’d like”. Tasting Table called it a puff pastry balanced between fluffy and crumbly. A pie review site found it thicker and more biscuit-like than French-style pastry.

Space and booking. UMakeMeHungry’s July 2022 visit rated the restaurant 3.25 out of 5. The writer found it small, noted that online reservations needed a credit card with a cancellation charge, walked in, and waited about 30 minutes. Their conclusion was that takeaway suits them better.

Seafood portions. Some FoodAdvisor users found the bee hoon serving small, with one counting only three prawns. A Burpple reviewer in 2022 said they would not travel just for the pie but would for the lala and prawn bee hoon.

The old Toa Payoh crab. In the 2017 to 2019 Toa Payoh years, several bloggers liked the crab soup but found it less intense than the city’s best-known crab bee hoon specialists, and one rated the claypot crab laksa only decent.

How independent are these reviews?

Not all equally. We think you should know:

We have not repeated star ratings here. Ratings move, they come from very different sample sizes, and we would rather link to the sources than freeze a number that will be out of date next month.

Our own view

This section is our opinion.

The Original Chicken Pie is the reason to come, and the egg is the reason it is remembered. The crust is sturdier than a French pastry, which is a trade-off we like for a pie built to be carried. If you have time to sit down at Tyrwhitt Road, order the crab bee hoon as well: the restaurant makes the most sense when you have both on the table.

For a longer tasting, there is a longer pie-nerd review of the Original on donchickenpie.com.

Where to read more

Every review we used is linked in the sources below. For a dated list of press coverage from 2008 onwards, the kitchen keeps Don Pie in the Press on originaldon.com. For the dishes themselves, see the Original Chicken Pie and the crab bee hoon story.