The Best Chinese Noodles in Seattle

This little tea shop on Aurora turns out a terrific but eclectic array of street food including Seattle-style teriyaki, Taiwanese minced pork rice, and fried chicken sandwiches. It also does its own interpretation of Shanghaiese scallion oil noodles that uses a heavy hand with the soy-based sauce and caramelised scallions, then adds an egg and chilli threads on top.

For almost three decades, this International District stalwart has earned a place in diners’ hearts with its remarkable green noodles. Thick ropes of jade-hued noodles draw a delightful texture from the process of cutting them individually from a lump of dough into waiting water. They tangle with eggs, squid, shrimp, and chicken in this wok-fried dish, as simple and satisfying as it is brightly coloured.

This Sichuan dish, a rarity in Seattle but a star at this Greenwood restaurant, comes from a town just south of Chengdu, famous for its preserved mustard stem – a key ingredient in the noodles. The spaghetti-like noodles come with a light coating of a spicy oil sauce and beneath a trio of piles, including the pickle, peanuts, and peanuts.  

While hand-shaved noodles thrive on their inconsistencies, these thick noodles – and Chiang’s itself – take power from consistency. Sautéed with pork and greens, the dense, round strands come coated in a beguilingly savoury sauce, so thin as to be almost imperceptible – it becomes one with the noodles. Even the long, thinly sliced pieces of pork seem like they could be noodles, giving the whole dish a surprisingly singular texture, even as it boasts complex flavours from the masterful wok work in the kitchen.