Asian Food Lab in Time-Out Market

I have to be honest: this was the worst Pad Thai I've eaten so far.

I've only ever eaten vegan Pad Thai, so I can only compare within that category, but I have had the privilege to have eaten this classic dish many times in restaurants around the world.

Sometimes a Pad Thai doesn't have much flavor, or has a very little amount of tofu compared to noodles. Sometimes it is so spicy that it burns your digestive tracts, even if you ordered "medium spicy" (looking at you, Bangrak Market). Even with those flaws, I often still enjoy it, because the basics are very enjoyable, and hard to get wrong.

Here, the basics were off. Some suggestions to the chef:

• The sauce: a Pad Thai should have a tamarind sauce. I couldn't spot even a hint of tamarind here. The noodles seemed to have been fried in a very sour tomato-based sauce. If I wanted a Spaghetti alla puttanesca I would have ordered that in an Italian restaurant.
• Vegetables: if you add vegetables at all, please add young sprouts (of any bean). Those are essential. Then maybe have some fun with carrot, broccoli or chili peppers. But by all means, do not add peeled cherry tomatoes to make the sour tomato taste even worse.
• Presentation: do not bury a lime piece under the noodles so that I have to fish it out. I would have also appreciated chili flakes inside the dish, but that's a minor flaw.

Furthermore, adding a marinade to the tofu is helpful. And including more than a few small blocks of it would have been appreciated, too.

Mind you, this dish was edible. We finished it together. But we didn't eat with gusto. 2/5.