Don Pie, Don pies or Don's pie: what is it actually called?

Here is a small Singapore puzzle. The same chicken pie has been sold under at least five names in twenty-five years, the kitchen now bakes under a new one, and people search for it under several more. This page lines them all up, so that whichever name you grew up with, you end up at the same pie.

Try the variants

Pick a variant to see how it is used in a sentence. All five sentences are also listed in the page, so nothing is hidden.

Every name, in one table

Is “Don Pie” one word or two?

Two words, capital D and P, when you mean the brand: Don Pie. In casual writing, lowercase “don pie” is fine, and it is how most people type it into a search bar. The original shop styled the name in capitals as “DON”, which is why you sometimes see “DON pie”.

Where did “Don’s Pie & Cake” come from?

When Chef Don’s pies came back in late 2019, at a food centre stall in Toa Payoh North, he did not use the old Don Pie name, which he had sold around 2014 to 2015. He used Don’s Pie & Cake, which said exactly what it was: Don’s own pies, and his cakes. Posts from the time describe a deep blue “DON’S” logo for it. Read the Food Centre II story.

Why does “Chicken Pie Kitchen” not have “Don” in it?

It half does. The full name is Chicken Pie Kitchen & Don Signature Crab: a plain description of the pie side, joined to the crab brand Chef Don built in Toa Payoh. We explain the relationship in Don Pie and Chicken Pie Kitchen.

Who is DonChef?

DonChef is the name Chicken Pie Kitchen & Don Signature Crab bakes under today. Every pie that leaves the kitchen is a DonChef pie, made to the original recipe that Don Pie founder and kitchen co-founder Chef Don Lim created in 1983. That is why the menu and the ordering pages say DonChef’s original recipe and DonChef’s Original Chicken Pie. Chef Don Lim still appears at the kitchen’s events. More on Chef Don Lim.

What does “Don” mean?

The “Don” is Chef Don Lim’s name. It is not a title, and it has nothing to do with the Japanese “-don” rice bowls, although that coincidence does turn up in search results and the occasional pun. In Singapore “don” on its own usually means donburi, and don.sg, a donburi guide, sets out the difference between a don and Don Pie. It also has nothing to do with a well-known American song about pie, which is the other thing that turns up when you search for “don pie” with no other words. The kitchen answers the question in its own words in Who Is the Original Don?

Which name should I search for?

• To buy a pie today, search for Chicken Pie Kitchen or the outlet name, for example “Chicken Pie Kitchen AMK Hub”. donpieshop.com’s Don Pie shop near me page sorts the five outlets by region and MRT line.
• For today’s kitchen and pies, look for DonChef; for the history, Chef Don Lim.
• To read the history, “Don Pie” plus a place works best: “Don Pie China Square”, “Don Pie Toa Payoh”.
• For this guide, any of them. We have tried to answer all of them.

Need a quick definition of other terms like “personal”, “whole” or “++”? See the glossary of Don Pie names and terms.