Sunshine Plaza and Bencoolen Street: where Oven Marvel was

Where exactly was Oven Marvel?

Oven Marvel was on the ground floor of Sunshine Plaza, 91 Bencoolen Street, Singapore 189652 (SETHLUI.com, 2020) (Great Deals Singapore, 2022). Reviewers describe it as being on the first level, roughly in the middle of the floor (Burpple). Sunshine Plaza sits on Bencoolen Street, in the stretch of town between Bugis and the Singapore Management University area, and the nearest MRT station listed for the shop was Bencoolen (SETHLUI.com, 2020).

That is the whole of the verified address. I have deliberately not described the building’s history, its owners or its other tenants, because none of my sources cover them and I would rather leave a gap than fill it with guesswork.

What was the unit number?

There are two, and the sources do not agree on when one became the other.

• #01-51 appears in the earliest listings, including the January 2009 post when the shop was still called Delicious Muffins (ieatishootipost, 2009).
• #01-55 appears in later listings and in the 2022 closure report (Great Deals Singapore, 2022).

A Burpple reviewer wrote in June 2018 that the shop had recently moved to a bigger unit just a few doors away (Burpple). That would neatly explain the change, except that two Burpple reviews from 2014 already give #01-55. Perhaps the 2014 reviewers were using a listing that was updated later; perhaps the shop moved earlier than the 2018 reviewer realised. I cannot tell, so this site says “ground floor of Sunshine Plaza” and leaves the unit number as a footnote. A Japanese eatery, Ichi Tei, was listed nearby at #01-52 (Burpple), which suggests how close together these units were.

What were the opening hours?

They changed over time, and of course none of them apply any more.

Opening hours on paper were never the whole story. The pies were baked in small batches and often ran out well before closing (umakemehungry, 2016), so the practical hours were “until the trays are empty”.

What did the shop look like?

Small and plain. Reviewers describe a mostly takeaway counter with perhaps one or two tables, and no decoration worth mentioning (umakemehungry, 2016). In 2017 one reviewer could see straight into the little kitchen, where the chef was laminating pastry (Burpple). I have found no description of the signage, a logo or a slogan, and I have not made one up. The photographs on this site are illustrations: none of them shows the real Sunshine Plaza or the real shop.

How did people get there?

On foot, mostly. The shop was a takeaway that suited the office workers, students and shoppers of the Bencoolen, Bugis and Dhoby Ghaut area. Before the Downtown Line arrived, people walked over from nearby stations; later listings simply name Bencoolen as the nearest MRT (SETHLUI.com, 2020). Many customers phoned ahead, especially near the end (Great Deals Singapore, 2022).

Is there anything to see at Sunshine Plaza now?

Not from Oven Marvel. The shop closed in early 2022 and has not reopened anywhere (Great Deals Singapore, 2022). If you go to Bencoolen Street for a pie, you will be disappointed; if you go for a walk and a memory, you will at least get the walk.

For a chicken pie you can actually buy this week, see where to get a chicken pie like that today. For the full history, start with the Oven Marvel story, then read what happened to Oven Marvel for the closure and the price of an Oven Marvel chicken pie for what a visit used to cost.