Oven Marvel, frequently asked

Oven Marvel was a small takeaway bakery on the ground floor of Sunshine Plaza, 91 Bencoolen Street, Singapore. It sold only chicken pies, curry puffs and muffins, and was known above all for a flat, round chicken pie made with all-butter puff pastry baked in the shop. It closed in early 2022.

On the ground floor of Sunshine Plaza, 91 Bencoolen Street, Singapore 189652. Early listings give unit #01-51 and later ones #01-55. The nearest MRT station listed was Bencoolen. See Sunshine Plaza and Bencoolen.

No evidence of any. Every review, listing and news report places it at one shop in Sunshine Plaza. No branch, kiosk or franchise appears in any source.

Nobody has published an opening date. The earliest dated evidence is a blog post of 11 January 2009, when the shop was still called Delicious Muffins. One 2022 article says it had been in Bencoolen since the early millennium, without giving a source. So: by 2009 at the latest.

Yes. In January 2009 the shop traded as Delicious Muffins. By August 2013 it was Oven Marvel. Leslie Tay explained the rename: selling chicken pies and curry puffs under the name Delicious Muffins was a bit funny. The exact date of the change is unknown.

The chef-owner named in the sources is Johnny Ngiam, a career pastry chef whose last hotel job was as pastry chef at a Hilton before he opened his own small bakery at Sunshine Plaza. Other helpers are mentioned by reviewers but never reliably named.

They changed over the years. Around 2009 to 2015 reviewers list roughly 11.30am to 8pm, and the shop closed on the 8th, 18th and 28th of each month. In April 2020 it opened from about midday until 8pm. Pies often sold out well before closing. None of this applies now: the shop closed in early 2022.

Reviewers repeatedly describe it as cash only. In 2014 regulars pre-ordered in person, and by 2022 phone orders were so heavy that walk-in customers could leave with nothing.

Flat, round and single-serve, with house-made all-butter puff pastry top and bottom: crisp on top, soft and slightly chewy where it soaked up the sauce. The filling was chicken thigh, peas, onion, carrot and soft potato in a medium-thick, peppery homemade bechamel. Read what the chicken pie tasted like.

Puff pastry, made in the shop with butter. Reviewers contrast it with the shortcrust British-style pies most people expect. See why puff pastry and not shortcrust.

No source mentions egg in it. Egg is a feature of some other old-school Singapore pies, not this one.

Some people remember corn. Two Burpple reviewers mention sweet corn, in 2014 and 2017, while the most detailed accounts, by Leslie Tay and Miss Tam Chiak, do not. The honest answer is maybe, or perhaps sometimes.

Nearly every reviewer calls the filling peppery, and one specifically says white peppery. White pepper gives a warm heat that builds at the back of the throat and suits a pale cream sauce. See the guide to white pepper.

Reviewers reported about S$2.80 around 2009, S$3.50 in 2013, S$3.80 from 2014 to 2017 (one 2014 review says S$4.30) and S$4.00 from 2018 to 2020. These are reported prices, not an official list. See the price of a pie.

It used the same butter puff pastry as the pie, around waxy potato that was boiled in its skin, peeled, diced and fried in curry powder the chef ground himself, with diced chicken. There was no egg. It cost about S$2 around 2009 and S$2.80 from 2014.

Reviewers between 2018 and 2020 name Banana Walnut, Apple Raisin, Orange Peel, Choco'Wanna and Double Chocolate Chip, at roughly S$2.20 to S$2.80. The double chocolate chip was a recurring favourite.

No. Oven Marvel closed permanently in early 2022, and nothing suggests it has reopened anywhere.

In early 2022. The closure was reported on 17 March 2022. The exact last trading day is not recorded in any source we found.

Reportedly because the owners retired due to old age. That reason comes second-hand, from netizens in a Facebook group who phoned the shop, as reported by Great Deals Singapore. The owners were not quoted. See what happened to Oven Marvel.

Because the shop closed. Its listing was marked permanently closed after the closure was reported in March 2022.

No. The shop never published its recipe, quantities or oven temperatures. This site offers home recreations built from reviewers' descriptions, clearly labelled as such, starting with the flagship butter-puff chicken pie.

Make an all-butter rough puff: equal weights of cold butter and flour, iced water, four letter folds with 30-minute chills, and a final chill after shaping. In Singapore, work early in the day or with aircon. Full method in the rough puff recipe.

No shop sells the same pie. For butter puff and a creamy filling, look at hotel coffee-house chicken pies. For other good chicken pies still baking in Singapore, with pastry style and price for each, see where to get a chicken pie like that today.

No evidence connects them. Oven Marvel was Chef Johnny Ngiam's shop at Sunshine Plaza; Don Pie was founded by Chef Don Lim in the CBD, and its pies are baked today under the DonChef name. Their pies differ, and Miss Tam Chiak's 2019 taste test lists them as separate competitors. They are separate businesses.

No. It is a fan tribute, not affiliated with or endorsed by Oven Marvel, Chef Johnny Ngiam or the former owners, and it does not sell their pies. How the site is written is explained on the about page.

No. Every image on this site is an illustration. None shows the real shop, the chef, Sunshine Plaza or a real Oven Marvel pie. The original blog posts on the sources page have real photographs from the time.