There are two types of chow mein: stir-fried, which is common to most of China, and the famed Cantonese "noodle pillow" aka Hong Kong-style chow mein. The latter is hard to find even in the San Francisco Bay Area and seldom done very well anywhere. To be honest, the quality of flour used has really dropped and this has drastically affected how good the mein is.

Serious Eats did an article with excellent photos so you can see the difference in the various types of noodles; from your description you are looking for the lo mein noodles: http://www.seriouseats.com/2014/04/chinese-noodles-101-guide-to-types-and-styles-of-chinese-egg-noodles.html

Noodles you can get fresh are always better for chow mein than the dried ones. They're usually sold in 1-lb plastic bags and must be kept refrigerated as they're very perishable. The Asian mega-mart will be your most reliable source; amazon is good only for dried noodles.

We prefer the HK-style chow mein but making the noodle pillow is a real pain. It takes very long, medium-heat frying with constant pressing and flipping. On my wimpy home stove it takes an hour to make a proper "pillow"!

If you decide to "branch out" into Shanghai chow mein, btw, the Japanese udon noodles are almost a dead ringer for the thick Shanghai noodles. You can get those fresh or dry, no real difference except time in cooking. Shanghai chow mein is also a stir-fry but uses more soya so the noodles come out dark brown. You need really good browning on the pork for Shanghai chow mein; the 'wok hay' makes a big difference in the overall flavor of this dish because it's so simple. Spinach makes a good sub for the napa cabbage; the tannin in the spinach actually works very well to cut through the oil used to stir-fry the noodles.

Asian cooking is salty, but this website had some tips about reducing the salt levels that I thought seemed helpful (I have NOT tried them, however): http://dontsalt.blogspot.com/2009/05/soy-sauce-studies.html

HTH!

jakkom, I tried your suggestion and got some fresh udon noodles at the grocery store this afternon. I've cooked them and am just waiting for my husband to wake up from a nap to put the "chow mein" together. I think they'll be fine. I also picked up some fresh "Chinese Style" noodles and will give them a try next.

As I said before, I've avoided some products due to the salt content. But I'm pretty sure that my home made chow mein will be much lower in sodium than restaurant versions. So, thanks for giving me the nudge to go ahead and try the fresh noodle products I can easily get at my local grocer stores. I've got a super duper low sodium soy sauce that I order from an online low sodium market.

Grainlady, I always have some of the coconut aminos on hand as a back up to the soy sauce I mentioned above. It is much, much lower in sodium than Bragg's.

jakkom, as an aside, the website you referenced is mine. I really got a kick out of seeing my blog URL. Thanks for your help.

Love it! Small world. :)

Shambo, I look forward to hearing how it turns out.

Jakkom, could you please explain more about the pillow? I've tried Googling and haven't found a good answer. Please excuse me while I avoid meaningful words her because I don't want to get them wrong. Something I used to love from Chinese (no specific region remembered) restaurants was a noodle dish with small bits of vegetable and not much sauce, which was mostly absorbed. It was in some ways like a good short order hashed brown potatoes serving: crispy to crunchy on the outside and through a couple of layers, but tender and almost fluffy in the middle. Truly awesome in its simplicity and yumminess. Is that a "pillow"? If so, any instructions on making it? If the pillow is something else, can you describe it (just curious)?

The udon noodles were just what I wanted. Thick & chewy. So now I don't have to worry about searching. They were 410 mgs of sodium per serving -- higher than salt-free noddles but low enough to not fret too much about. Everything else in the chow mein was either super low sodium or salt free. I had some plain noodles left over so I dressed them with a couple teaspoons of toasted sesame oil, low sodium soy sauce, a pinch of chili-garlic sauce, and a glug of unseasoned rice vinegar. Tossed the noodles & stuck them in the fridge. They'll make a good lunch for me tomorrow.

I'd also be interested in the noodle pillow. Sounds good to me.