Start before everything becomes one texture
Take a first mouthful before folding all the crisp noodles into the curry. Then try another after they have softened. You are tasting the same bowl in two different ways; that small change is easier to notice than a long list of ingredients.
The university’s recipe is for khao soi kai, a chicken version. It is a useful reference for the dish, not a rule every cook has to reproduce. When you order, ask which version is being served.
The things beside the bowl are part of it
Try a little lime or pickled mustard greens with the next mouthful rather than adding everything at once. See which contrast you enjoy, then adjust. The point is not to assemble a correct final bowl for a photograph; it is to notice how the meal changes while you eat.
If you are eating with someone, compare what each of you added. You may have ordered the same dish and ended up with different preferences. That is a more interesting conversation than deciding which bowl deserves a perfect score.
Give one lunch your attention
Make khao soi the lunch you came for, rather than the first obligation in a five-stop tasting list. Note the version you ordered and which accompaniment you wanted more of. On another day, those two details give you something concrete to compare.
A market morning in Chiang Mai and an unhurried noodle lunch are enough of a food plan. Keep the next meal open for another northern dish, or return for a bowl you now know how you like.