Does the food match the scenery?
It's tempting to feel sorry for the chef tasked with creating a menu that competes with these views.
But during a recent visit by CNN Travel, German chef Bjoern van den Oever's dishes had us not just excited for what was swimming by the glass, but what would next appear on our plates during the seven-course dinner.
"it's a lot of pressure," admits van den Oever, who works with a team of six chefs.
"You have to keep up with the surroundings, you don't want people getting bored by the food. So we have to always keep the food exciting as well."
Aerial view of Hurawalhi. -- courtesy Hurawalhi
As a result, he says lot of people have underestimated the restaurant and come in with low expectations -- only to be blown away.
"We wanted to create something special," he says.
"More like where people can sit and have a whole theater of things going on. Not only the fish outside, but also on the plate. So everything was very inspired by the surroundings: the coral life, the fish. And there's a lot of small details where you can look on the coral and you get the reflection on your plate."
Courses include a mix of unique meat and seafood-based dishes that emphasize the flavors of the local and imported ingredients. For example, there's the "Diver Scallops," served with apricot and almond vinaigrette.
"We take one product and we try to make the best out of it," says the chef.