Bangladesh
Working remotely in Singapore basically means working all through the middle of the night, which is kind of painful. The weather in Singapore is much nicer at midnight than at noon, tho, and there is a late night/all-night food scene as well. Ended up haivng a midnight dinner at Ng Kuan Chilli Pan Mee, which was pretty meh. There was a Hainan chicken place as well as a ramen place a short walk away which both had excellent ratings, but oddly the Hainan chicken place was empty when I walked by, and, well, when in Singapore, why have ramen when you can have more local cuisine?
Worked the rest of the night, then was time to head to Changi Airport to catch my flight home. As it was too early for hotel breakfast, went to the food court inside Terminal 2. They'd rebranded from Straits Food Village to Cookhouse by Kourfu, and the stalls have changed a bit. The kopi toast was pretty solid as always (don't think about the butter), although the dim sum was absolutely terrible. At least I finally stumbled upon the sunflower garden/smoking area/observation deck inside Terminal 2, which was a beautiful array of sunflowers, set on a spacious patio with glass walls to more easily see the rest of the airport.
Onboard United flight 2 for the return home, my upgrade to the new Polaris Studio came through, making it my first in-flight experience with not only the new Polaris Elevate product but the "business class-plus" Polaris Studio product. The 27" 4K screen is massive, the space is terrific, and the little ottoman (if you have a friend in business class with you) is fun. Storage is quite ample, even better than the previous Polaris product, power outlets are plentiful, and the tray table is huge. Complaints about the regular Polaris Elevate seats being a tad shorter and with smaller footwells are not evident in Polaris Studio, although shoulder width in the new Elevate Aerospace Ascent seat does seem a bit tighter vs. the previous Zodiac Optima seat.
Service was a mixed bag, the crew said it was their first time onboard a Polaris Elevate frame, and they claimed they'd had very little instruction/no instruction as to what was onboard. Mattress pads in particular had some random triangular bits that I think were for the ottoman but no one had any clue; the crew eventually did find the regular mattress pads, which worked fine for the seat itself. The self-service bar wasn't setup until several hours into the flight, more than an hour after meal service finished, which seemed both too slow but also semi-understandable as the crew seemed to have so little familiarity. Also, well, let's just say self-service for warm sode, cup noodle, and potato chips does not exactly scream luxury. The fancy snack box was a nice touch tho, with expensive (Sugarfina) gummies, chocolates, and biscuits if that's your thing.
Playing cards, black pajamas with a hoodie, and black slippers all get positive notes, although I personally am indifferent to them. An Airtag holder is the final gift for Polaris Studio guests, but the box is not labeled clearly and hence it is sort of a mystery. It's quite nice but also not something I'd consider using, because after all, why would I want to snap an AirTag to the outside of my luggage?
Assessing the food is a bit more complicated, as I had pre-ordered the (very meh) East Asian vegetarian meal beforehand, so I suspect I did not get the entirely normal service flow intented for Polaris Studio. I did get the Osteria caviar, which is served in a little tartlet and covered in chives, which very much seemed silly. It could have been any raw-ish protein at that point, and was a stark reminder that as much as United is trying to be "fancy", they are nowhere near their caviar-serving competitors. The Laurent-Perrier Rose did appear to be a Polaris Studio exclusive as I did not see it on the regular menu, and while delicious, I sadly was not able to make much of a dent in it.
Having not yet flown the regular Polaris Elevate seat, my comparison to Polaris Studio is regrettably incomplete. It was a bit confusing in many ways, mostly due to lack of documentation anywhere on the all the features of the new seat, and further incomplete a review due to my ordering a special meal. The hard product is excellent, almost stands out, but not quite to the level it would have been if it had arrived, say, a year earlier, given how many of United's competitors also have a business class plus product either currently or coming shortly. Drink is quite competitive at a marquee level for a business class product, but definitely far short of first class products. Service and the soft product remain the biggest issue; with a more experienced/polished crew, this would be better, but food would still be a significant weakness.