Takes in surroundings, a great lake and number of restaurants (8)
I believe the answer is:
eateries
'restaurants' is the definition.
(I know this)
'takes in surroundings a great lake and number' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'a' is within the answer.
'lake' could be 'erie' (Lake Erie is one of the Canadian/US 'Great Lakes') and 'erie' is located in the answer.
'number' could be 'e' (e is a kind of number) and 'e' is located in the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
'of' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Another definition for eateries that I've seen is " Chippies".)