We’ve been ogling the menu at The Shipwright’s Daughter for months now. This new spot opened at The Whaler’s Inn in Mystic last June and slipped under our radar during the pandemic. But we finally noticed and (with one vaccine under our belt) headed over on a bright and sunny Sunday for Brunch.

We were greeted by a friendly server and led into an elegant room with crisp navy, orange, and white tiling and a bar with velvet stools stretching along the front of the building. I’m not sure if the place was designed to offer COVID-friendly dining, but it sure seems so. Our cozy banquette faced the street with simple acrylic partitions between tables, providing not only safety but privacy from other diners. And then the menu! I already KNEW I was ordering blueberry Johnny Cakes, but the rest of our party had some trouble with decisions, so we just ordered up a storm.

Eggs Shakshuka (here in a green tomatillo sauce) arrived with puffy homemade pita, a fat and happy brioche egg sandwich with house-made garlic and clove sausage, a glorious salad of colorful, crisp lettuce leaves, rosy beet-cured gravlax on rye with a pile of pickled onion, chicken fat home fries, Neuskies thick-cut bacon, and sticks of hashbrowns.

Yup. I know. We were a little overenthusiastic. We started with Kombucha Mimosas (this will be my new drink) and plump corn-meal fried oysters, plus a bowl of smoky clam dip accompanied by wisps of homemade potato chips.

There’s something quite celebratory about brunch, and this one was exactly that: a couple of moms and their grown-up daughters reveling in good food, old friends, and the light at the end of the tunnel. We’ll never take a Sunday brunch for granted again!

The Shipwright’s Daughter serves breakfast, lunch, dinner, brunch, and happy hour (1/2 price oysters and bar snacks), plus online ordering to-go. Private dining room for up to 20 available.

Check the website for hours and menu: www.shipwrightsdaughter.com

20 East Main Street, Mystic