Bakmi consists of two Hokkien Chinese words literally translated to English as "meat noodles" (肉麵, Pe̍h-ōe-jī: bah-mī). Bakmi is a wheat based noodle which was brought to Southeast Asia by Chinese merchants, and is today a common noodle dish, especially in Indonesia and in Thailand. The dish has also been further developed to more closely align with the local tastes. Bakmi is between Chinese style wheat noodles and Japanese Udons in thickness, and there are several variants of bakmi in Indonesia.

The most common type of bakmi in Indonesia is bakmi kuning, or 'yellow noodles'. And the most common recipe of bakmi dish in Indonesia is chicken noodle (Indonesian: bakmie ayam or mie ayam). Mie ayam is wheat noodle topped with diced chicken meat seasoned in soy sauce. Mie ayam often accompanied with wonton (Indonesian: pangsit) either crispy fried or in soup, and also bakso (meatball). Bakmi ayam is a popular Chinese Indonesian dish and ubiquitous in Indonesian cities, it can be served in a restaurant to a humble travelling cart.