Hotel chef periodically checking fish sauce (9)
I believe the answer is:
insolence
'sauce' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'hotel chef periodically checking fish' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'fish' could be 'sole' (sole is a kind of fish) and 'sole' is located in the answer.
'hotel' could be 'inn' (inn is a kind of hotel) and 'inn' is found in the remaining letters.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for insolence that I've seen before include "Cheek, irreverence" , "lack of respect" , "freshness" , "Front" , "Lip; cheek" .)