Covering Ipswich Town comes with a lot of perks, and it's not a job that any of us take for granted. One key aspect that we love is the food that gets served up in the press rooms ahead of the games, and it's been great to see our followers fully invested in what we get every single week.

Alex Jones has been sharing his 'media scran' on X (formerly Twitter) throughout the campaign, and now it's all over, he's chosen his top five favourites from around the Championship in 2023/24.

For fairness, this only includes meals from away games - none of the delicious food served up at Portman Road!

East Anglian Daily Times: West Brom's pre-match curry sneaked into the top fiveWest Brom's pre-match curry sneaked into the top five (Image: Alex Jones)

5. West Brom

Fresh off the back of the November international break, we came into the period of festive football. 

In many ways, it’s great. The fixtures come thick and fast, there’s a special buzz in the air and it feels like a period where a lot gets decided. Off the pitch, it’s not as easy.

The weather is cold, it gets darker much earlier, and all in all, it feels a bit more miserable. With that in mind, kudos to West Brom for coming up with a fantastic curry to keep us warm.

The press lounge at the Hawthorns is smart, albeit that it isn’t really designed for big numbers. That being said, the food more than made up for it, even if the naan looked a bit like a crumpet. 

The less said about the game, the better. This one just gets in over Preston North End, who deserve an honourable mention for what they served up at Deepdale in pre-season and for the Championship game in February.

East Anglian Daily Times: Bristol City came in at number four with their ribs and wedgesBristol City came in at number four with their ribs and wedges (Image: Alex Jones)

4. Bristol City

Stuart Watson was off for this one, so Ross Halls joined me in the West Country for a trip to Bristol. 

I had fond memories of my last trip to Ashton Gate during my time as Millwall reporter, where they served up some delicious burgers. This didn’t quite hit the same spot, but certainly deserves a spot in the top five.

We were served some sweet pork ribs with potato wedges, which were delicious. Ultimately, it was just lacking a sauce, as it was pretty dry, but it got high marks for the taste.

It certainly helped that Town went on to win the game, though that the Wi-Fi slipped up as I was working on my report before the late print deadline. At least that trip went better than the previous one a few days earlier, where we made a sharp U-turn on the A1 as the game at Rotherham United was postponed.

East Anglian Daily Times: Alex controversially put Norwich City in third placeAlex controversially put Norwich City in third place (Image: Alex Jones)

3. Norwich City

Right, hear me out. 

This is the Marmite selection of the bunch, particularly given that it was served up by the old enemy. However, if you can expect anything from a club owned by Delia Smith, it’s good food. I quite liked this one.

The dreaded early kick-off. Derby nerves are lingering and you can’t quite face a big breakfast, so Norwich City came up with a sausage in a roll (wouldn’t go quite as far as calling this a hot dog) with some baked beans. It tasted really good, and gets bonus points for the hash browns included on the side.

It’s a bit of a strange mixture, yes, but sometimes you’ve just got to go with it. The responses that I received when I put this out on social media were very much hit and miss.

Ultimately, it was probably the highlight of the day.

East Anglian Daily Times: Southampton just missed out on top spotSouthampton just missed out on top spot (Image: Alex Jones)

2. Southampton

There’s a clear top two in my mind, and Southampton just miss out on top spot. That being said, their facilities were excellent. It’s a real Premier League set-up.

This is about the food, however, and it was top-notch. Arranged by catering company Gather & Gather, we got a lovely little chicken curry in a box, and it was just delicious. The only downside, and probably the only reason it doesn’t quite get into first place, is because I just wanted a bit more! Greedy, I know.

On the flip side, they also provided some tiny little cakes for afterwards. They looked really fancy and tasted just as good. I’m a bit annoyed I didn’t get a photo of them.

The Saints get bonus points for their branded packets of sweets, which were absolutely vital in the hotel room in the early hours of the morning while transcribing Wes Burns quotes.

East Anglian Daily Times: Hull City's chicken katsu and chips topped Alex's listHull City's chicken katsu and chips topped Alex's list (Image: Alex Jones)

1. Hull City

Scraping past Southampton and to the top of the charts is Hull City, which isn’t a surprise given their reputation for good food since owner Acun Ilıcalı took over. On my previous trip to Humberside, they served a delicious souvlaki, but they went above and beyond here.

The Tigers dished up their award-winning chicken katsu and chips, which is also on sale to fans at the stadium. They pile plenty onto your plate and offer you a variety of different toppings and sauces to go with it. 

Marcus Nash, the club’s Director of Media and Communications and a big follower of my weekly media scran posts, told me at the time that this had to be top of my end-of-season list. Who am I to disagree?

To seal the deal, they gave out treacle pudding after the match, which undoubtedly gave the reporters that extra motivation after the late Saturday night kick-off, not that it was needed after such a crazy game.

I was unfortunately pretty unwell in the build-up to this game, and I wasn’t feeling much better on the day. This was exactly what I needed. Thank you Hull.