The crowd at the Chinese Laundry was composed of post St Pats party posses, the Sydney pseudo glitterati (resplendent with bling) and the normal crowd of scruffy hip young things, all jammed  around the flat screen showing The Muppets… a bizarre addition to the décor which relied heavily on sexy reds, plush leather and the sporadic Buddha’s who found their heads routinely rubbed.

Chinese laundries are traditionally fronts for octopus smugglers and gambling rings, but not so here on Friday night where the breaks took centre stage. Covers seemed to be the order of the day and The Impossibles rattled off a plethora, a standard line up of Walk Like an Egyptian, Smooth Criminal and Daft Punk’s Fahrenheit all breaked up. Thankfully everyone managed to avoid what must have been a near overwhelming temptation to follow the bangles moves. The crowd were licking it all up like cats and cream and one woman was so moved as to spill a splash of her water on the floor for her homies.

Across the way in ‘The Cave’ Dopamine was on a different tip. An emphasis on the dance vibe had the place rocking from the moment it opened, the long queue for the small bar snaked amongst the revellers. Heavy electronic synths and a soulful edge was interspersed with thumpers of Prodigy ilk and all was judged to the crowds mentality with things getting ever livelier and prompting the sort of footwork not seen since Ali took the ring with insects on his mind. The Cave’s bare and moody darkness playing in to the hands of those who wanted to close their eyes and just dance.

With no MC and an eye for what the dancers wanted to hear, this motif was carried on by Breakfastaz who came on just after two and rang out in to the early morning, the blackboard being filled with chalk scratchings along the line of ‘sluts rock’ and ‘house can go to hell.’ One man, overcome by it all, broke down next to me and seemed near to tears as he confided: ‘I love the breaks, I love them so much.’

Back in the Laundry itself, Defcon1 came on before two and bought with him MC D:Tech, certainly one of Sydney’s finest. They knocked it out with hard electro hits that smashed up the bass system and had the crowded dance floor intermixed between those going at it hard and an abundance of kissing couples. They worked their magic on and on and as people moved between the two rooms there was a serious party feeling – along the lines of everyone being on the same team.

This was a good night, well organised and managed in a venue which seems much smaller than it is to very good effect. Reasonably priced and open until four you can do far worse than investigating this venue’s break nights which offer something for everyone.