I usually test complex regex in either notepad++ or EPIC pluggin for Eclipse before incorporating it in my Perl script. If you test \"[^\"]+\" in notepad++ with regular expression search mode, it clearly highlights the matching portion of your log line "http_decoder: HTTP.Unknown.Tunnelling".
UPDATE : Other Monks have already suggested this solution!
Thanks all for your help, I learned new things like basic perl debugger and the checking regex on notepad.
I will take a different approach for parsing different log fields.
Thanks again!