Cracked and messy or shelled and mannerly, crab is a reason to feast - especially in Bangkok, a city known as much for its seafood as for is temples.

With little more than lemon juice or melted butter, crab makes a quick, irresistible meal. And it takes only a few more minutes to turn in-the-shell crab into cioppino or to glaze it with a tangy tamarind sauce. But there is a neat side to crab as well, shelled and made into dishes both satisfying and sophisticated: crab cakes, risotto, and crab and caviar parfaits.

Bangkok's crabs, supplied daily by nearby fishing villages, are always fresh - alive and kicking, waiting to be picked out of the bucket, cut up, and thrown into a searing hot wok to be stir-fried with a little curry powder and some onions and garlic.

Of course, the simplest and most popular way of enjoying the crabs is to order them steamed (neung) and served with different sauces. One sauce that compliments well the flavor of the crab, according to most locals, is prik manao, a mixture of chopped chilies, lime juice, garlic and soy sauce.

But crabs can be ordered in many other interesting ways. You can try fried blue crabs with curry sauce (poo pat pong gari). Or poo ta le pahd pong gari (garnished with spring onions) and poo too ka-teum phrik thai, Flavored with garlic and pepper. A milder alternative is the Chinese-style hot pot crab with vermicelli (poo op wun sen).

In some hotel menus, one can order the special mud crabs that must be cooked alive to get the best taste.

Unlike blue crabs, which are sought mainly for their body meat, mud crabs are sought after for their claws, the meat of which is said to be superior to that found under the shell. Some restaurants suggest reservations since preparing mud crab dishes take some time, thanks to their thick shells.

For those who don't want to wait, there's always fried stuffed crabs (poo ja), which is basically crab meat, pork, eggs and spices cooked in the shell. Try also mud crabs cooked in coconut milk and deep-pried crab skulls dish (kanchiang poo neung).

Most if not all of Bangkok's seafood restaurants serve crabs, among other shells from the sea. Pay one of these places a visit and enjoy one of the city's most delightful offerings-crabs.

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