This Vietnamese-American dish of buttery noodles and lots of garlic is thought to be invented by the An family at Thanh Long, their restaurant in San Francisco’s Outer Sunset district. It is not a dish from the classic repertoire of Vietnamese foods (where would common folks get all the butter and noodles?), yet it has found its way into Vietnamese crossover restaurants. The An family is super secretive about their recipes, particularly the noodles, which are cooked behind closed doors and comes out of a pass-through window to the wait staff. They own the Crustacean restaurants in San Francisco and Beverly Hills, and will be opening one in Palo Alto. All that secrecy has created lots of talk about what goes into those garlic noodles. In fact, the secrecy has garnered the An family and Crustacean restaurant lots of press.
Vietnamese-Americans old enough may recall a laden noodle dish made with western pasta, butter, garlic and Maggi Seasoning Sauce. I grew up on those nui Maggi (Vietnamese bastardization of French nouille) and included a recipe for it in Into the Vietnamese Kitchen. But that robust rendition that called for searing the noodles a bit to amplify the meatiness of the Maggi Seasoning Sauce is considered old-fashioned these days as people gravitate toward the modern, richer, super garlicky version popularized by the An family.
When I went to Thanh Long restaurant in San Francisco a number of years ago, I sat at the bar and ordered the garlic noodles, which came out in a family-size heap. They were so buttery, oily rich and garlicky that I couldn’t finish them, even though I’m known to be quite porky when it comes to fatty foods. The bartender told me that he goes home after work reeking of garlic because so many orders of the noodles are served per night. I took the leftovers and they stank up my car and fridge. I woke up with garlic morning breath and threw out the takeout container. It’s not that they tasted bad, but rather were overwhelming. I didn’t like that kind of impact on my palate and since then, I’ve been pondering ways to lighten it without loosing decadence. I’ve long thought that the famous, secret recipe for garlic noodles is a riff on the Maggi noodle dish of my youth, but every time I tried to replicate it, it just wasn’t rich or velvety enough as the restaurant version.
Last Sunday night, I had an epiphany when preparing a Saveur magazine recipe for spaghetti with canned tuna. (It was an elegant alternative to boxed macaroni and cheese, our second choice.) It was super simple and delicious. More importantly, there was a nifty trick in the recipe that helped me to render an improved version of Vietnamese garlic noodles: use some of the thickish pasta cooking liquid to toss with the noodles.
Duh, I’d read about this technique for years but it never sunk in. The liquid, in combination with fat (olive oil or butter), becomes a light creamy sauce. For the garlic noodles, this created a soft richness that enrobed each strand of noodle. Who knows if that is the secret to the secretive garlic noodles but the results taste mighty good.
Vietnamese Garlic Noodles
To mash the garlic, use a garlic press or finely mince and then mash the garlic with the flat side of a knife. Mixing the garlic with water prevents it from cooking and browning too fast. If you like, stir in 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro or flat-leaf parsley before the final seasoning check of salt. To gild the lily, after pulling the noodles from the skillet, sear some peeled large or jumbo prawns and serve them atop the noodles. Garlic noodles with prawns is a very very popular dish on Vietnamese crossover restaurant menus. While developing this recipe last night, we ate it with meatloaf and summer squash.
Feel free to experiment. Some recipes online like Rasa Malaysia’s include oyster sauce and I’ve seen Yelp postings that call for a dash or two of nuoc mam fish sauce. I like Maggi Seasoning Sauce as it speaks to the blending of western and eastern ingredients that makes Vietnamese food beguiling. Try this recipe out, tinker with it, and share your insights!
Serves 4 as a side dish
10 ounces fresh or 8 ounces dried linguine pasta
1 tablespoon Shaoxing rice wine or dry sherry
Scant 1 tablespoon Maggi Seasoning Sauce
¼ cup (½ stick) plus 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 ½ tablespoons packed mashed fresh garlic mixed with 2 teaspoons water
Salt, kosher preferred, to taste
1. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook until tender (go beyond normal, chewy al dente). Ladle out and reserve ½ cup of the slightly thick cooking liquid. Drain the pasta. Drain the pasta but do not flush it with water.
2. To the reserved cooking liquid, add the rice wine (or sherry) and Maggi Seasoning Sauce. Set aside near the stove.
3. Heat a skillet over medium-high heat and add the ¼ cup butter. Once it has melted, add the garlic. Cook, stirring frequently for just 1 to 2 minutes, until softened, fragrant and just about to turn color. Add the reserved cooking liquid and stir to combine. When the mixture vigorously boils, raise the heat to high, then add the warm pasta.
Cook, stirring with tongs, until the sauce clings to the pasta and there is no liquid visible in the skillet. Remove from the heat, season with salt, and then stir in the remaining 1 tablespoon butter to add a final rich note. Divide the noodles between 4 bowls and serve immediately.
Rosa says
A tasty recipe! I love noodles and garlic!
Cheers,
Rosa
Rasa Malaysia says
Hi Andrea,
Thanks for linking to me. I got a comment from a reader that "Crustascean restaurant garlicky noodle I think consists of Maggi sauce, garlic, and French butter- Frentel- Demi-Sel (in red can, in dry aisle shelve & available in any Asian supermarkets)..."
I am sure they use a seasoning agent because I could see traces of dark brown color sauce at the bottom of the garlic noodles. I will try making mine with maggie sauce the next time. 🙂
Best,
Bee
Andrea Nguyen says
Hi Bee,
You're welcome. I appreciate the fact that you've tried to unravel the mystery of garlic noodles. They're not much of a mystery, huh?
A.
Jaden, Steamy Kitchen says
I use Maggi and brown sugar in mine!
Karen Nguyen says
Hi Andrea.
I have question about Banh bong lan.
In the recipe, you wrote :"1/3 cup plus ¼ cup plain bleached cake flour". I am a little confuse. is it mean I take 1/3 cup flour and then I use the same cup to get 1/4 cup flour more and add both of them together?
thanks
ps: by the way, do you have recipe to make birthday cake? 🙂
Andrea Nguyen says
Hi Karen,
Yep, that's what I mean -- measure 1/3 cup, then measure another 1/4 cup -- put them together. No, I don't have a recipe for a birthday cake.
A.
Lili says
Andrea,
We had something like the Thanh Long garlic noodles at my unofficial engagement party. The noodles were served with dungeness crab pieces. It was messy to eat, but delicious all the same. I can't recall the name of the restaurant. It was tucked in a small plaza somewhere in Anaheim. But I remember the seasoning as buttery, garlicky (but not to the point of overpowering), with lots of umami (almost sweet, but not quite). Made me think that there a bit of msg added for the flavor. Y
Chef Jay says
Having served 2 1/2 tours in Vietnam ,working and living with the common people , Farmers at times and regular families in some of the populated areas at other times I grew to love the people, thier food and traditions. Finding this site was a true blessing , many of the recipes bring back wonderful memories. I have had the pleasure of returning to Vietnam twice and hope to go as many times as I can , Thanks for a great site , great recipes and fond fond memories,
Tuty says
Andrea,
Thank you for encouraging me to try Maggi Sauce. Now the whole family can't live without it....
Pat says
I've heard so much about the An family's garlicky noodles. I have got to try some for myself! On a side note, Eric Banh of Monsoon restaurant in Seattle had given me a noodle recipe for my cookbook that used butter. I thought it odd but now I have some perspective!
Terrence says
Andrea,
Have you try using fish sauce instead of Maggie? I little bird from Thanh Long's Kitchen once told me that they use fish sauce. I had some made with fish sauce the other nite and it was very good.
Michelle says
Oh thank you for posting this! I can't wait to try this.
Andrea Nguyen says
Terrence, I've not tried fish sauce (nuoc mam) with the noodles. Sounds good -- but you'd have to go light on the fish sauce, no?
Stacy says
I was at Crustacean in August and fell in love with the garlic noodles and roasted crab. The waiter said that there was Parmesan cheese in the garlic noodles. Any idea if this is correct?
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I tried this Garlic Noodles 3 years ago in a little trip to Ukraine, there is a vietnamese family that runs a little restaurant.. wow... no words for it..
It was the bet restaurant I've ever ate!!
I just hope for the chance to go again...
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Debbie says
I've been working on the recipe for a while now. I've had the noodles at the Beverly Hills location for years and years. There is a subtle sweetness that I think is brown sugar. But I think the real secret is that they put garlic into the dough before making the noodles. There's a "bumpyness" to the noodle. So, here's the best that I have come up with:
Cook and drain your noodles. Pour a tablespoon or two of sesame oil on the noodles and toss. (An did say ((on Food TV)) that "maybe" there was se
the garlic guy says
I was always afraid of Vietnamese food, i was told that you are going to eat dogs and cats 😉 But this recepie looks realy delicious. Thanks so much.
Leelu says
Hi Andrea! Thanks so much for posting this recipe! I tried it the other night, and my husband and I both thought it did taste a LOT like the Garlic Noodles at Thanh Long, and it's the closest recipe I've tried to make BY FAR. YUMMY!!!
My 2 comments are as follows: I do think the noodles should be rinsed after cooking or like one person suggested toss them with sesame oil -- or maybe time the noodles and sauce so they don't sit around. Mine came out way too sticky and ended up a big solid noodle
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danielli says
I have made both recipes, this one, and rasamalaysia. though this one is not bad, rasa is, to me, closer to the real thing. Oh, i always add a little cream at the end.
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Arlene says
I also received confirmation from our server at Thang Long. There is Parmesan cheese in the noodles.
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Tony says
I just made these noodles with your gai yang/thai sweet chili(with a pestle and mortar) and found that the flavors to be bold and delicious. Thank you
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nani says
I use chow mein noodles with brown sugar, fish sauce and also maggi sauce! Love it
Todd says
I think there is some tamarind in the sauce.
Dotanbaer says
Made this recipe tonight;
NO wine, just Oyster sauce and yes a teaspoon of Fish Sauce when adding the water from the noodles into the garlic butter before adding the noodles.
Then for our taste kosher salt and lime in the bowl after serving the noodles, were EXACTLY like CRUSTACEAN which cost us $150.00 to eat for 2. Now we have new staple in our home cookbook and just in time for my 5 month pregnant wife who is VIETNAMESE.
THANK YOU lifesaver literally.
We used the 99 cent pack of standard spa
Builders Manchester says
I tried this whilst working at a vietnamese clients home. She also made a red broth with chicken drumsticks with the end of the leg bone cut off so only the juicy part of the drumstick was left. I am looking for the name of that dish also so i can try to make it myself. It was red in colour, had a slight spice (heat)to it and i do remember it had a very strong garlic flavour! (i love garlic)In the broth was potatoes and carrots. I think she said she had to leave the chicken marinading in the gar
Allan says
I have eaten at Crustacean many times. linguine pasta is not used in their garlic noodle. I think they make their own noodle with flour.
Pamela says
Hi Andrea, just finding out about this tasty dish and recipes for it now. Excited to try it. What type of Maggie seasoning did you use? I have the (dark colored) Chinese one and the (light brown colored) French style Maggie. I find that they taste really different from each other.
Also, what's up with the weird, nonsensical bot comments? Thanks in advance for helping me out.
Andrea Nguyen says
You can use either but I'd use the Chinese Maggi.
The bot comments are from years ago, when my spam filter was awful. Apologies.