Vienna is lovely. It is spotless and orderly and really just as pleasant as a city can get. It is the valedictorian cheerleader with good skin and straight teeth.

Budapest? Budapest isn’t as clean and it isn’t as orderly. But it is beautiful. It is soulful and perplexing and it is different. Budapest is the cheerleader’s sexy cousin with one crooked tooth and a mysterious scar on her neck.

As if that weren’t enough, that sexy and mysterious cousin? She knows how to cook.

For both traditional and modern Hungarian cooking, there are some shared themes with other parts of Europe, especially Austria. Take the lovely fancy cakes and fantastic strudels, holding over from the Austro-Hungarian Empire. But then much of the food isn’t at all like its neighbors’. It is strongly flavored, tangy and spicy.

That flavor and spice is mostly because of paprika, which is what sets Hungarian food apart. And paprika comes from Hungary’s unique ethnic history. It is in Central Europe, but a good portion of its roots are Central Asian - think of Turks, Persians and of course, the Huns.

Traditional Hungarian dishes, like Paprikash and Goulash, can be had in many places in Budapest. When well-made, nothing is better. Flavorful, hearty and fully seasoned, traditional Hungarian food is both comforting and complex.

Additionally, and like many places these days, Hungary has reinvigorated its local wines. When paired with their own unique cuisine, they are delightful. At Retek, I had a a glass of Egri Bikavér (Bull’s Blood of Egri) with my goulash soup. It was perfect.

But then there is modern Hungarian cuisine. Budapest is one of the best places to experience inventive new food. Also one of the least expensive. The city has an outsize share of chefs competing to out-tasty each other, and a proud ecosystem of local suppliers eager to showcase what Hungary has to offer.

Case in point: KönyvBár, in the Jewish quarter. Könyv is Hungarian for book. KönyvBár specializes in creating tasting menus based on books. When we first looked them up a few months before our trip, they were featuring Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. The night of our reservation, it was the book, Game of Thrones.

We ate a seven course meal based on Game of Thrones.

From appetizer to dessert, each dish was painstakingly crafted to represent a theme, character or scene from George RR Martin’s magnum opus. They not only looked beautiful, employing every culinary design trick in the book, they tasted fantastic.

There was Hungarian fresh-water eel served from a ceramic dragon’s egg…

…and a play on “send a raven” using some delightful small game bird…

And on and on, each course perfectly paired with a Hungarian wine.

The irony in all of this, which was served with every clever Game of Thrones reference in every delicious mouthful? Neither Marissa nor I have ever read the book or seen the series on TV.

I know. I know.

Thankfully our GoT illiteracy did not get in the way of enjoying an epic meal (it lasted four hours). And that epic meal called for a digestive of the highest caliber. Many of the meals we ate in Budapest did, but this one particularly.

Cognac? Single malt? Port? No, no, no, no, no. Only one liqueur would do. The grande dame of Hungarian liqueurs and my new favorite after -dinner drink: Unicum.

An old family recipe (the Zwack family) that went underground during the Cold War, Unicum is once again the national drink of Hungary. Made with 40 herbs and God knows what else, I find it absolutely delicious and the perfect antidote to overeating.

It is both bitter and sweet, fierce and supple, soothing and invigorating. Much like the city in which we drank it. I liked it so much, I bought a duty-free bottle at the airport to take home, something I never do.

There is more to write about Budapest - its architecture, its people, its difficult history and its equally difficult politics. All of it adds up to a truly interesting, beguiling, and yes, sexy encounter.

But for now, I am content to simply remember her cooking.