Steamed Turtle in Crystal Sugar Soup, with turtle as the main ingredient, tastes delicious with sweet and salty flavor. Ranking No. 1 in Top 10 Ningbo Dishes, it is soft, glutinous, sweet, sour and salty, which gives produces the unique flavor. As a tonic, the turtle and rock sugar are stewed together, which provides such function as nourishing Yin, regulating middle energizer, tonifying deficiency, supplementing Qi, and dispelling heat.

More than 100 years ago, there was a small restaurant on the northern river bank in Ningbo. The owner was famous for cooking Steamed Turtle in Crystal Sugar Soup, which was fragrant, soft, glutinous, salty and sweet. Tasting so delicious, it revealed the unique cooking skills of the owner. 

One day, two Ju Ren (successful candidate in the imperial examinations at the provincial level) passed Ningbo on the way to Beijing for the imperial exam. They had a meal and drank liquor in the restaurant while enjoying the river scenery. Seeing that they were Ju Ren, the waiter asked, “Sir, what would you like to have?”

The two Ju Ren, coming from rich families, said, “Just serve your famous dishes”.

The waiter served all their famous dishes one after another. The last dish served was the Steamed Turtle in Crystal Sugar Soup. Head of the turtle turned upward. Transparent and fragrant, the dish was sweet and delicious, tasting so extraordinary. They were so impressed by the dish, asking the owner “What’s the name of this dish?”

Judging from their clothing, the restaurant owner anticipated these two customers must be Ju Ren about to take the imperial exam. So he said intentionally to please them, “Sir, the dish is called “Secure the First Place”. Hearing this, the Ju Ren couldn’t help saying, “It is so amazing!” before they left in great joy. 

When the exam result was revealed in the autumn, one of the two Ju Ren got the first place (Zhuang Yuan). He returned to hometown with great pride, and reached the small restaurant on the bank of Yong River, ordering the dish called “Secure the First Place”, saying that after eating the dish, he felt so healthy and energetic and attributing his performance in the exam to the dish. Hearing these praising words, the restaurant owner cooked again the Steamed Turtle in Crystal Sugar Soup for him to eat. After that, the owner took out the ink, brush and paper, asking the Zhuang Yuan to write down a name for the restaurant.

The Zhuang Yuan, who was in high spirits, just took up the brush and wrote “Zhuang Yuan Restaurant”.

Since then, the Zhuang Yuan Restaurant has gained great fame in east Zhejiang, whose famous dish Steamed Turtle in Crystal Sugar Soup has also obtained fame in and out of China.