Indonesia
Breakfast at the hotel was about normal for a nice hotel in Asia, with a disappointing onigiri, but everything else was pretty okay? If I had stomach space I would have tried the (sad looking) french toast and the (quite good looking) pain au chocolat, but after eating 4 meals yesterday I had to restrain myself.
Ended up way early to the airport, which left me time for an Indonesia meal of some sort of creamy soup with chicken? Did not need more food but was fun to try a local place, and not long after to confirm that my backpack was still just barely within allowed weight (weeee!). The Saphire Lounge after immigration was not bad, skipped the rather meh looking food but appreciated finding a solid bit of desk and wifi to work on before clearing security and heading to the gate. Turns out I actually headed to the gate too early (Scoot Airlines, why is your app/website/flight status tracker crap?) due to a late inbound from Singapore, but was okay-- found one of the few power outlets and was able to get some more work done.
Paid $20 or so extra for exit row seating on the return. More legroom for a sub-2-hour flight is not necessary, but I can say it was decidedly more pleasant. To my surprise the flight made up most of the delay on the way back to Singapore, but then the original delay on the inbound, air traffic control delays at Singapore Changi Airport, reared its head again on my return, and we had to circle a good 20 minutes before getting clearance to land. Technically that gave me more time to enjoy the extra legroom, and I had booked in a reasonably long layover for exactly this reason. Had plenty of buffer still til my return to the USA, and ended up killing most of the afternoon at Jewel Changi.
Hoshino Coffee is one stopped I missed on my previous Japan trip, so their location at Jewel Changi was my first stop. The waterfall-side tables are pretty nifty, the matcha is good, and the karaage bits are way oversized. The souffle pancakes were a fail, though: they looked beautiful, but were not delicate, light, and airy as expected. Instead they were a bit too dense and had far too much structure. Not sure if the original locations in Japan are the same or not, but if they are, then I am glad we didn't waste any stomach space while in Japan on them? The second meal stop was Kam's Roast Goose, a Hong Kong original. This location had decidedly inferior, not-crispy-enough roast pork, but the regular char siu was excellent if a tad too fatty, and the roast duck was damned good.
Finally, stuffed with food, it was time to head back home. Plenty of upgrade availability on the Monday evening return flight (even more than the Monday morning return) was nice, the flat iron steak was actually properly cooked (still not great, but properly cooked is a start), and the long haul home wasn't bad in United Polaris. Mid-flight snack of Hainan-style chicken was just okay, with rice that was a bit too dry, but the laska-inspiried noodles are always solid. Definitely skip the soba, and, well, I have mixed feelings on the curry puff: it's okay but definitely not my favorite.
Pre-arrival meal of shrimp congee is always good if it's served hot enough, then soon enough the trip was over.