the corner of duke street and berry street in liverpool is pretty fucking awesome. not just because it’s home to a derelict pub which sports banksy’s biggest and most valuable piece of graffiti…but also because it’s steps away from a kick ass vegan-friendly chinese restaurant called yuet ben.

yuet ben restaurant and famous banksy graffiti in liverpool

i found out about yuet ben from the must-read vegan liverpool website, scouseveg.co.uk. scouse veg is a great resource and gives the lowdown on all the veg-friendly places in the city. that is after all, where i read about the awesome egg cafe. i was stoked to visit yuet ben’s website and find that they had an entirely separate vegetarian/vegan menu that was simple yet appetizing. on our one night in liverpool a couple of months ago, we decided to put the chips and curry on hold and dine at yuet ben for a dinner of vegan chinese food.

imagine how stoked we were to trudge up the hill to yuet ben and see before us a huge piece of banksy graffiti that i’d been reading about online. the depiction of a giant cat/rat creature stands about 20 feet high and is said to be banksy’s biggest work of art. it has raised the value of the disused pub it adorns, the whitehorse, to an estimated £1 million! if you are a fan of street art (what self-respecting vegan isn’t?), then yuet ben is definitely the place to dine in liverpool.

crappy dark pictures of our tasty dinner after the jump.

naturally we ordered off the vegetarian menu, and let our waiter know that we were vegans. he totally understood and assured us that none of our food would contain animal stock, eggs or dairy. he even brought us vegetarian chili sauce—i can only imagine the “normal” chili sauce has fish in it. yuck.

vegetarian spring rolls. £3.50

the yuet ben spring rolls were swell. as you would imagine, chopped up vegetables in a crispy fried wrapper. they went great with the sweet and hot sauces the restaurant provided…i’d definitely recommend this as starter.

three delicacies: braised tofu, bamboo shoots, and chinese mushrooms. £5.50

for our main course, my husband and i shared two tofu dishes off the vegetarian menu: three delicacies and three precious jewels. the three delicacies (pictured above) came with braised tofu, bamboo shoots, and chinese mushrooms while the three precious jewels (below) included braised tofu, broccoli and carrots. both were delicious, light and refreshingly simple. the tofu and vegetables were all cooked perfectly, and there was definitely enough to fill us up. just really well prepared chinese food in a tasty sauce. bam.

three precious jewels: braised tofu, broccoli, and carrots. £5.50

so vegans, when in liverpool, think twice before you fill up on fatty chips and mushy peas. save room for some delicious vegetarian chinese food, and check out a historical piece of street art while you are at it. who knows how long that banksy cat/rat will be around anyways; cities have a shitty tendency to renovate and cover things like that up, with no thought of preserving history.

yuet ben
1 Upper Duke Street,
Liverpool,
Merseyside UK
L1 9DU
Tel: 0151 709 5772
Open from 5pm – 11pm. Closed Mondays.