Mongoose I see hotel has on menu, surprisingly (9)
I believe the answer is:
ichneumon
'mongoose' is the definition.
(ichneumon is a kind of mongoose)
'i see hotel has on menu surprisingly' is the wordplay.
'see' becomes 'c' (the word for the letter, according to Chambers).
'hotel' becomes 'h' (phonetic alphabet: alpha, bravo, charlie etc.).
'has' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'surprisingly' indicates anagramming the letters.
'on'+'menu'='onmenu'
'onmenu' with letters rearranged gives 'neumon'.
'i'+'c'+'h'+'neumon'='ICHNEUMON'
(Other definitions for ichneumon that I've seen before include "mongoose" , "Parasitic wasp" , "Fly" , "African native" , "snake-slayer" .)