I do love a good stoop.

Stoop is actually a Dutch word, meaning “small porch.”

East Sydney and Surry Hills have many a great example.

These are along Foveaux Street, between Crown and Bourke Streets.

These stoops are on Crown Street, between Stanley and Liverpool Streets.

Our apartment building lacks a stoop. I think I would enjoy sitting on the stoop, if we had one.

A couple of years back, the Pop Shop, on Oxford Street, shut its doors.

I noticed the familiar faces of owners Angelo and Robert in Blueprint, on Macleay Street, earlier this year.

And then today, walking down Crown Street, between Campbell and Albion Streets, I noticed this:

They’re back!

So I ventured back to the Maltese cafe for a trial of the malt shake (with just the tiniest squirt of vanilla flavour). Now I don’t know if that first shake was so good because of all the build up and time between shakes, but I think my shake craze might be over. Don’t get me wrong, the dude makes a very decent malt shake (and for $2.50, it is quite a score), but the magic was gone for me. Then again, I am quite a faddish person.

Having just completed nine months as a pregnant diabetic, I was totally up for a vanilla malt milkshake.

Well, I found it surprisingly difficult to locate in this neighbourhood; the whole ‘malt’ ingredient threw most café operators.

…but find one I did, and really, when I think about it, I should have headed straight there – it was screaming MALT – the Maltese Cafe, on Crown St.

And it was glorious. And you can get two sizes of shake, and let’s be honest, a small one is all you need before you get that bloated, way too much dairy feeling. And it only cost $2.50!

When my search was proving fruitless (or rather, maltless), I considered getting an Oak Vanilla Malt from a convenience, and hell, that would have set me back $2.50.

I am planning a return next week, but this time I will request no vanilla essence, just vanilla ice cream, milk and malt. Oh j’attends avec impatience. Stay tuned…