Chef
Alain Perrillat-Mercerot
- Discipline
- Chef
- Based in
- Le Bourget-du-Lac, France
i. Biography
Chef of Atmosphères in Le Bourget-du-Lac, France, Alain Perrillat-Mercerot arrived there by way of hotel school, apprenticeship kitchens in Sévrier and Vougy, and a growing certainty that cooking could become his route. The arc runs from practical training to a lakeside restaurant where he and Delphine Pontet have sustained local gastronomic cuisine for more than twenty years. Along the way, his own language keeps returning to instinct, encounters, and the discipline of doing things well.
Beginnings
Before the restaurant in Le Bourget-du-Lac, there was the Lycée hôtelier de Bonneville, where Perrillat-Mercerot trained for the profession that would come to define his working life. His recollection of the choice is strikingly plain: “I might just as well have become a carpenter as a cook!” Apprenticeship turned that openness into practice. He worked as an apprentice at Auberge de Letraz in Sévrier, France, and at Capucin Gourmand in Vougy, France, two early kitchens that placed him inside the routines, pace, and demands of professional cooking. A decisive encounter sharpened the direction. “This encounter made me understand that I could find pleasure in this profession. Guy Barbin passed on to me the desire to do things well, to dare. Thanks to him, I was certain I had found my path.”
The Rise
The move from apprentice to chef can be measured here less by title than by continuity. At Atmosphères, Perrillat-Mercerot and his wife, Delphine Pontet, have offered local gastronomic cuisine for more than twenty years, building the restaurant’s identity around a close reading of place rather than a detachable style. Michelin describes his cuisine there as creative and farm-to-table. That phrasing keeps the cooking tied to both imagination and supply: the plate is not only composed, but connected to what can be gathered, chosen, and served from nearby producers. His own view of progress is social as much as technical. “I remain convinced that our progress is made only of encounters!” In a career that began with training and apprenticeship, the sentence reads like a through-line: people, not abstractions, changed the course.
Today
The most concrete expression of that local commitment may be the cheese cart. At the restaurant, 90% of the cart is made up of local productions, turning the end of the meal into a careful survey of nearby makers rather than a generic display. That detail sits naturally beside Michelin’s description of the cooking as creative and farm-to-table: Perrillat-Mercerot’s work is rooted in selection as well as preparation. “I prepare them by instinct, like my cooking.” The line captures a chef whose technique is not presented as spectacle, but as a practiced response to product, season, and encounter.
Profile updated July 2026
FAQ
Asked of Alain
Where else has Alain Perrillat-Mercerot worked?
He worked as an apprentice at Auberge de Letraz in Sévrier, France, and at Capucin Gourmand in Vougy, France.
Where did Alain Perrillat-Mercerot begin their career?
His professional formation began with training at the Lycée hôtelier de Bonneville and apprenticeship in French kitchens.
What roles has Alain Perrillat-Mercerot held?
He has held apprentice roles and serves as chef of the Le Bourget-du-Lac restaurant.
