Crystal Sugar Turtle (冰糖甲鱼 Bing Tang Jia Yu)

Crystal Sugar Turtle, as one of Ningbo's top ten dishes, is also known as "No 1 Scholar Turtle" (Zhuangyuan Turtle). The dish is golden in color, tasty and nutritious.

A legend tells that in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), a candidate for the imperial examination (a kind of talent selection in ancient China) was on his way to the capital. During his stay in Ningbo, he ate this dish in a small restaurant and fell in love with the flavor. When he asked for the name of the dish, the manager of the restaurant replied with the name "No 1 Scholar Turtle" as a good wish for the customer. Luckily, the competitor earned the top score in the examination, becoming the No 1 Scholar (Zhuangyuan) of the year.

Thinking the dish he ate in Ningbo had brought him the luck, he returned to the restaurant naming the dish "No 1 Scholar Turtle" and the restaurant "No 1 Restaurant". Later on, the dish gained further reputation and became renowned at home and abroad.