PARIS (AFP) — One of France's greatest chefs, Olivier Roellinger, is closing his three-star restaurant on grounds of fatigue and personal reasons, the latest of several top cooks to give up on high-pressure establishments.

Roellinger, 53, whose award-winning restaurant is located in the small Brittany port of Cancale in western France, told AFP on Friday that "after 26 years of happiness at the oven it is becoming increasingly difficult by the day to cope with the physical demands."

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A seafood, spices and vegetable connoisseur, he won his third prized star from the Michelin Guide foodie bible in 2006 for his epomymous restaurant, which will close December 15.

"I will transmit and share my cuisine differently, more in line from now on with my deep desire to communicate," he said.

"I will go towards a wider public, and be more available than I could have been by keeping the three stars," added Roellinger, who also runs a bakery, a spice-oriented grocery, a cooking school, B&Bs and a smaller bistrot-restaurant, all in Cancale.

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"A star means the sun shines day and night," he wrote. "But after, you have to hang in and not lose. For a star, chefs have sacrificed their family life, their savings, their free time."

"With three stars life is even worse," he added. "This decision may move other great chefs."

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