A wine list with food

spent the past six weeks learning about wine in the musty cellar at Berry Brothers & Rudd on St James's Street and it's a bit like being at wine public school: so much heritage, so much claret, so much exhausting prep to do. I am a diligent wine student. Enjoyment of wine increases exponentially with every glass you are tutored through. The only downside is that I now like far more grapes than I used to and have a bad case of upgrade syndrome with my insight into the more regal heights of the wine list world.

Luckily for me, gastropub wine lists rarely offer temptation beyond the £30 mark. Not so The Enterprise, where the whites top out with serious white Burgundies, top price £125 for a Corton Charlemagne, '91. The reds go up to £175 for a Mouton Rothschild, '94. This wine list is popular, safe and classy. Apparently it changes every two weeks. We splashed out on a mouthwatering bottle of 2003 Cloudy Bay sauvignon, a relative steal at £38.

The service was impeccable. A friendly, wry chap called Jack heads up a team of girls who don't know that much about the menu, but go to great efforts to answer any questions. One being, 'Is the asparagus British?' It was. I had my first asparagus of the season here - crisp and poignantly fresh. It was topped with a deep-fried, breaded egg with the mouth-hugging flavour of truffle oil. A lovely starter for £7.

Rave Mum and the Furious Camel joined me. Mild whiskey-cured gravadlax with pickled fennel was spoilt by sitting on a warm plate which gave a greasy feel in the mouth. Crayfish tail risotto had a solid crustacean flavour, but long-grain rice sitting in a shellfish sauce is not risotto and someone needs to take some lessons.

Main courses showed lack of finesse, too. RM had some duck, which had slightly dry flesh under a divinely crispy skin. FC had pot roast pork belly, which looked anaemic but tasted full and porky. I had a piece of sea bass on the bone with a creamy cornichon sauce. It looked small, and at this price was surely farmed - its flavour was not sufficient to withstand pickled baby cucumbers and the slightly bitter, braised baby gem on the side. The chips were good, the French beans undercooked. For dessert, a chocolate tart was rich, soft, eggy and warm, but let down by pallid pastry.

Swathes of heavy fabric and carpet give an overall feel of a lively pub in a Chelsea drawing room. The tables are snug. Non-smokers at the next table huffed as we puffed. Spruce up the food and there's not much wanting here. At the moment though, The Enterprise is a wine list with food.