Avui encara vull menjar peix al restaurant.

Catalan often drops subject pronouns when they are not needed, because the verb ending already shows who the subject is.

Here, vull means I want, so jo is unnecessary.

• (Jo) vull = I want
• (Tu) vols = you want
• (Ell/ella) vol = he/she wants

You could say Jo avui encara vull menjar peix al restaurant, but that would usually add emphasis to I.

In this sentence, encara means still.

So it suggests that the desire continues:

• encara vull = I still want

Depending on context, encara can also mean things like yet or even, but here still is the natural meaning.

Vull is the 1st person singular present tense of voler (to want).

So:

• vull = I want
• infinitive: voler = to want

This is an irregular verb, so the forms do not all look predictable. For example:

• jo vull = I want
• tu vols = you want
• ell/ella vol = he/she wants

After voler (to want), Catalan normally uses an infinitive if the same person does both actions.

So:

• vull menjar = I want to eat

This works just like English:

• I want to eat
• vull menjar

There is no extra word corresponding to English to before eat in this structure. The infinitive menjar already covers that idea.

It can mean both, depending on context.

In this sentence, menjar is clearly a verb:

• vull menjar = I want to eat

But menjar can also be a noun meaning food or something to eat in other contexts.

For example:

• Vull menjar. = I want to eat.
• El menjar és bo. = The food is good.

Here peix is being used in a general, non-specific way, like fish in English when talking about food as a category.

So:

• menjar peix = to eat fish

This is very natural in Catalan. You do not need el here.

If you said menjar el peix, it would usually mean to eat the fish — a more specific fish, already known from context.

Compare:

• Vull menjar peix. = I want to eat fish.
• Vull menjar el peix. = I want to eat the fish.

Al is the contraction of:

• a + el = al

So:

• al restaurant = to the restaurant / at the restaurant, depending on context

In this sentence, al restaurant is best understood as at the restaurant.

This kind of contraction is very common in Catalan, just like:

• del = de + el

Catalan often uses a / al where English uses at or sometimes where learners might expect in.

So menjar al restaurant is a normal way to say to eat at the restaurant.

You may also hear al restaurant in many everyday contexts where the location is a place someone goes to or is situated at.

A learner should mainly remember that Catalan prepositions do not always match English prepositions exactly.

Catalan word order is flexible, but this order is very natural.

• Avui puts the time first: today
• encara modifies vull: still want
• vull menjar gives the main action: want to eat

So the sentence flows as:

• Today
  • still
    • I want
      • to eat fish
        • at the restaurant

You could move some parts around, but the meaning or emphasis might change slightly. For example:

• Encara vull menjar peix avui al restaurant sounds different in emphasis.
• Avui vull encara menjar peix al restaurant is less natural.

A rough guide for an English speaker:

• avui ≈ ah-VOO-ee
• vull ≈ something like vuy or booly-without-the-final-y, depending on accent; the ll sound varies by dialect
• peix ≈ paysh

A few notes:

• ui in avui forms a glide, not two fully separate syllables in slow English style.
• x in peix is pronounced like sh.
• ll in Catalan can vary a lot depending on dialect, so pronunciation of vull is one of those words worth listening to from native audio.

Yes, that is grammatically possible, but it usually adds emphasis.

Catalan normally leaves out subject pronouns unless there is a reason to include them, such as:

• contrast: Jo vull menjar peix, però ell no.
• emphasis: Jo sí que vull menjar peix.

Without emphasis, Avui encara vull menjar peix al restaurant sounds more natural.

By itself, al restaurant can sometimes be interpreted in different ways depending on the verb and context. But with menjar, the most natural reading here is at the restaurant.

Why?

Because eat to the restaurant does not make sense in English, and in Catalan the location reading is the obvious one:

• menjar al restaurant = eat at the restaurant

If the sentence were about movement, like vaig al restaurant, then al restaurant would mean to the restaurant.

Yes, but it changes the meaning slightly.

• al restaurant = at the restaurant / at the specific restaurant
• en un restaurant = in a restaurant / at some restaurant

So your original sentence sounds more like a particular restaurant is in mind, or at least the restaurant is treated as a known place in the situation.

If you want something less specific, you could say:

• Avui encara vull menjar peix en un restaurant.

That means something more like Today I still want to eat fish in a restaurant / at some restaurant.