John William Burton-Race ,is a British Michelin starred chef, restaurateur ,author, and television personality , made famous by the Channel 4 series French Leave and its sequel Return of the Chef and I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here.Burton-Race was born in Singapore, where his father was a United Nations official. He spent his early years travelling, allowing him to experience food from all round the world.In 1983, John Burton Race landed a role under the renowned chef Raymond Blanc at Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons. He was soon promoted to sous chef. When Raymond opened Le Petit Blanc in Oxford, he turned to John to head the restaurant and the kitchen. It was here that John won his first Michelin star.
In 1986, John fulfilled a lifelong dream by opening his own restaurant, L'Ortolan in Berkshire. The restaurant was awarded two Michelin stars, an achievement John repeated at John Burton Race Restaurant at the Landmark Hotel in 2000.
In 2002, John took a break from restaurants and moved to France for a year to rediscover his love of cooking and embrace a slower pace of life. Channel 4 jumped at the opportunity of making a TV programme based around this sabbatical. The result was the successful television show French Leave that made John a household name. After a year of living and breathing all things French, and inspired by what he had seen and learnt, John returned to the UK and opened The New Angel in Dartmouth, Devon in 2004. This was awarded a Michelin star in 2005, and retained it until his departure in 2010.
Last year John Burton Race opened The New Angel in Notting Hill which, within its first year of opening, was awarded three AA Rosettes, and was voted into Harden's Top 10 new openings 2015, and OpenTable's Top 100.
John Burton Race is the author of several cookery books, most recently Flavour First published in 2008, and Cooking for Beginners, which he co-authored with Chef Angela Harnett.
http://www.johnburtonrace.co.uk/
