Between 1983 and 2002, he held positions at various restaurants in the
South of England, including
Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons,
Oxford; the
L'Ortolan restaurant in
Berkshire; and in 2000, he took over
The Landmark London hotel, winning two Michelin stars. In 1995 Burton Race won a
Catey Award. After a 1990 television debut in
Masterchef, Burton Race served as food consultant for the BBC
Lenny Henry series
Chef!.
French Leave saw Burton Race move to France in 2002. He returned to the UK to purchase and run the restaurant/hotel
The New Angel in
Dartmouth, a seaside town in
Devon. It was awarded a Michelin star in 2005. In 2006, Burton-Race lost to
Michael Caines when the pair were challenged to represent the
South West of England in the
BBC television series
Great British Menu. In 2007, he became a mentor on
BBC cooking show
Kitchen Criminals, and a judge of
ITV cooking show ''
Britain's Best Dish. He was one of three judges on the daytime food show Britain's Best Dish'' (2007–2011), alongside
Jilly Goolden and
Ed Baines. In spring 2009, he appeared as a mentor on the ITV show
Taste The Nation, a contestant on the
BBC Two show
Put Your Menu Where Your Mouth Is, and a contestant on ''
Let's Dance for Comic Relief'', dancing to
Michael Jackson's
Thriller. In summer 2009, Burton-Race appeared on the ITV daytime food show
Daily Cooks Challenge. Burton-Race left
The New Angel in 2010 to join Unitas, and has since consulted for various restaurants, hotels and food chains. In 2012 Burton-Race joined Adams Foods as brand ambassador and executive development Chef for
Kerrygold and
Pilgrims Choice. He entered the retail market with the brand 'Cooked by John Burton-Race' which launched in August 2013. In 2013, he competed in the new edition of BBC One series
Put your Menu where your Mouth is, and filmed reality series
Celebrity Super Spa for Channel 5. As of 2017, Burton-Race is heading the brasserie and terrace restaurant team at the refurbished Grosvenor Hotel in Torquay Devon, recently renamed John Burton-Race Restaurant with Rooms, which has been awarded two AA Rosettes. In August 2018, Burton-Race announced via his Twitter account that he was leaving the Richardson Hotel Group and would be departing from the John Burton-Race Restaurant with Rooms and was seeking new adventures.
''I'm a Celebrity'' In November 2007, he appeared in ITV's ''
I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here!'' During the series, he had a number of severe falling outs with fellow contestant
Lynne Franks, as the two of them had such opposite and extreme personalities. He was also the camp's main cook, and disliked fellow contestant
Janice Dickinson's refusal to eat certain types of meat, such as
kangaroo,
crocodile and
possum. Burton-Race was voted out of ''I'm a Celebrity'' by the public on 24 November, the fifth person to leave the 2007 series. During his final chat with presenters
Ant & Dec, he explained that as a chef, he had a very open mind with trying new types of food, and that was why he disliked Dickinson's refusal to eat the food he had prepared. ==Personal life==